Abstract
We describe here a child with angiodysplasia of the small intestine, diagnosed by double-balloon endoscopy (DBE), who was treated with transumbilical single-incision laparoscopic surgery (T-SILS). A 9-year-old boy presented to another hospital with intermittent fresh melena of a duration of 5 months and 4 days. Anoscopy and gastric mucosal membrane scintigraphy were unsuccessful diagnostically, and he was referred to our hospital for further examination and treatment. Under general anesthesia, we performed DBE by an anal route, with the ileum assessed for a distance of about 150 cm from the ileocecal valve. Although no bleeding lesion was found in the colon, a flat elevated venous lake approximately 20 mm in size was observed 20 cm from the ileocecal valve, suggesting angiodysplasia of the small intestine. A tattoo was made under DBE, and wedge resection by T-SILS was performed 1 month later under general anesthesia. The excised specimen appeared as a flat, elevated venous lake approximately 20 mm in size. Histopathologic analysis revealed several dilated and distorted veins within the submucosa of the small intestine. The patient was diagnosed with angiodysplasia of the small intestine. His postoperative course was uneventful, and he remained free of recurrent gastrointestinal bleeding 18 months after the operation. This is the first case report showing the diagnosis, localization, and tattooing of an obscure gastrointestinal bleeding lesion of the small intestine by preoperative DBE and removal of the lesion by subsequent T-SILS in children.