What tests are done for small bowel ulcers

Small bowel ulcers can be examined with colonoscopy, barium x-ray contrast, CT scan, and pathologic biopsy. Other tests such as routine blood, fecal occult blood, help to understand the ulcer with or without active bleeding. 1. Enteroscopy: enteroscopy is the method of choice for the diagnosis of small bowel ulcers. It can determine the presence or absence of lesions, location and staging, evaluation of treatment effect, give hemostatic treatment to those with combined bleeding, and assess the depth of ulceration of the intestinal wall. 2. X-ray barium contrast: gas-barium double contrast can better show the morphology of gastrointestinal mucosa. The direct signs of barium in ulcers are niche shadow and mucosal aggregation, and the indirect signs are localized pressure pain, duodenal bulb agitation and bulb deformity. 3.CT examination: for penetrating ulcers, CT is valuable to detect inflammation, mass and fluid accumulation around the perforation. Oral contrast CT can show oozing and thickening of tissue around the perforation. 4. Pathologic biopsy: take biopsy at the edge of the ulcer and observe the cell morphology under the microscope to identify benign and malignant ulcers. Patients should not diagnose on their own based on one test result, but should go to the hospital in time, and the doctor will take individualized treatment according to the specific situation and comprehensive analysis.