Iron deficiency affects 10-15% of the UK population and in the majority of instances is not due to serious disease. However, potential pathology in the upper GI tract or colon mandate endoscopic investigation in patients without an obvious underlying cause.
For patients diagnosed with malignancy, direct links to the upper and lower gastrointestinal cancer teams streamline patient management. Patients requiring IV iron can receive this on day care.
For selected patients with negative findings on upper and lower endoscopy further investigation of the small intestine may be required, using video capsule enteroscopy, CT or MR enteroclysis. Balloon enteroscopy may be carried out to treat pathology identified using these techniques.