Aspiration pneumonia complicating small bowel biopsy.

The use of peroral small bowel biopsies has been shown to be a safe and effective procedure, useful in the diagnostic evaluation of malabsorption and other intestinal pathology. This report describes a young man who aspirated a small bowel biopsy capsule as part of an investigation of malabsorption. Forty-eight hours after this episode, he developed pneumonia. In this context, the literature of complications from small bowel biopsies is reviewed.