Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2017; 23(24): 4444-4453
Published online Jun 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i24.4444
Appropriateness of the study of iron deficiency anemia prior to referral for small bowel evaluation at a tertiary center
Jaime Pereira Rodrigues, Rolando Pinho, Joana Silva, Ana Ponte, Mafalda Sousa, João Carlos Silva, João Carvalho
Jaime Pereira Rodrigues, Rolando Pinho, Joana Silva, Ana Ponte, Mafalda Sousa, João Carlos Silva, João Carvalho, Department of Gastroenterology, Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Rua Conceição Fernandes, Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto 4434-502, Portugal
Author contributions: Rodrigues JP designed the study, performed the research, analyzed the data and wrote the paper; Pinho R designed the study, performed the research, analyzed the data and wrote the paper; Silva J performed the research and analyzed the data; Ponte A performed the research and analyzed the data; Sousa M performed the research and analyzed the data; Silva JC performed the research and analyzed the data; Carvalho J performed the research and analyzed the data.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the review board of Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho.
Informed consent statement: All study participants, or their legal guardian, provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Jaime Pereira Rodrigues, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Rua Conceição Fernandes, Vila Nova de Gaia, Porto 4434-502, Portugal. jaimepereirarodrigues@gmail.com
Telephone: +351-914089521 Fax: +351-227868369
Received: January 27, 2017
Peer-review started: February 4, 2017
First decision: March 20, 2017
Revised: April 13, 2017
Accepted: June 1, 2017
Article in press: June 1, 2017
Published online: June 28, 2017
Processing time: 149 Days and 21.5 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Iron deficiency anemia is a common cause of referral to gastroenterologists. This study aimed to evaluate the adequacy of iron deficiency anemia workup prior to referral to a gastroenterology department for small bowel evaluation. Most patients (77.9%) presented an incomplete pre-referral study. On 27.3% of patients it was even decided not to proceed with small bowel evaluation. In fact, nearly 20% of patients revealed positive findings in the upper and/or lower GI tracts. Better communication and definition of referral protocols between the different specialties are required to enable patients to be promptly and correctly managed.