Should we perform regular surveillance capsule endoscopies in patients following small-bowel adenocarcinoma resection? A case report and discussion.

Abstract

Because small-bowel tumors are rare, prospective data on the utility of video capsule endoscopy (VCE) for their detection are limited. Current guidelines do not advocate for surveillance VCEs in patients following small-bowel tumor resection, which is mostly due to a lack of data. Here, we report an 81-year-old male patient who had undergone curative segmental ileal adenocarcinoma resection 15 years ago and another segmental jejunal adenocarcinoma resection (TNM-Classification: pT2 pN0 (0/2) G2M0) 7 years ago. He now presents with melena, progressive dyspnea, and decreased hemoglobin levels. VCE revealed local intestinal recurrence of the previously resected jejunal adenocarcinoma, leading to a second segmental jejunal resection (TNM-Classification: pT3 L1 pN0 (0/5) G2 M0). We believe that regular surveillance VCEs after the first jejunal adenocarcinoma resection might have facilitated earlier detection of tumor recurrence in this patient's case. Therefore, we suggest considering regular surveillance VCEs, at least in patients with recurrent small-bowel malignancies. However, future prospective studies are warranted to validate our findings.