Thalidomide for Bleeding from Small-Intestinal Angiodysplasia

To the Editor: Chen et al. (Nov. 2 issue)(1) found a significant decrease in recurrent suspected small-bowel bleeding due to small-intestinal angiodysplasia (SIA) among thalidomide-treated patients, as well as reasonable short-term safety with respect to thalidomide therapy. However, the article lacks crucial specifics. The enrolled patients needed to have SIA and be unsuitable candidates for endoscopic treatment, yet relevant details about the clinical features of the lesions or the demographic characteristics of the patients that justified the exclusion of enteroscopic treatment are omitted. Moreover, the exclusion criteria regarding clinically relevant coexisting conditions and the median age of the patients (<65 . . .