Comparison of wireless capsule endoscopy and conventional radiologic methods in the diagnosis of small bowel disease

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.giec.2003.10.004Get rights and content

Section snippets

Small bowel contrast study: an overview

The technical objectives of barium contrast study are to test the distensibility of each loop of the small intestine and to demonstrate the fold pattern [1]. Generally, there are two techniques of small bowel radiography: oral and intubation methods. The advantages of the former method (SBFT) include ease of performance and patient comfort. However, this conventional approach can cause errors because of its lesser ability to test the distensibility of the bowel wall and poor depiction of the

Comparison of contrast radiography and wireless capsule endoscopy in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding

Several studies have shown that in unexplained GI bleeding, small bowel disease appeared to be the cause in 45% to70% of patients [10], [11], [12]. Hence, when a source for blood loss is not apparent from examination of the colon and the upper GI tract, small bowel disease is usually investigated.

A recent study compared the clinical outcomes of 20 patients undergoing SBFT with WCE for the diagnostic evaluation of patients with suspected small bowel disease [13]. The respective yields of SBFT

Comparison of contrast radiography and wireless capsule endoscopy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Crohn's disease is one of the most common indications for small bowel contrast radiography [24]. The reported diagnostic yields of SBFT in Crohn's disease are varied. The US National Cooperative Crohn's Disease Study demonstrated that SBFT failed to adequately characterize the extent and severity of small bowel Crohn's [25]. In contrast, another study reported sensitivity of SBFT of 100% as judged by resected surgical specimens [26]. When compared with ileoscopy, SBFT had a sensitivity and

Summary

The mesenteric small intestine is the last frontier of the alimentary tract that has not been conquered by endoscopy. This is because of the relatively slow progress of advances in conventional enteroscopy. Though WCE is a very new technology to evaluate small bowel disease, preliminary evidence suggests that it has a high diagnostic yield compared with conventional radiologic methods of small bowel investigation. This is particularly true when the traditional SBFT is the radiologic test.

First page preview

First page preview
Click to open first page preview

References (28)

  • M.D. Rosenberg et al.

    Comparison of wireless capsule endoscopy, ileoscopy and small bowel follow through for the evaluation of non-stricturing IBD

    Am J Gastroenterol

    (2002)
  • D.Z. Katz et al.

    Capsule endoscopy in known or suspected Crohn's disease: the prospective of the referring physician and the patient

    Am J Gastroenterol

    (2002)
  • D.D.T. Maglinte et al.

    Small bowel radiography: how, when, and why?

    Radiology

    (1987)
  • D.D.T. Maglinte et al.

    Lesions missed on small bowel follow through: analysis and recommendation

    Radiology

    (1982)
  • Cited by (47)

    • Imaging for Inflammatory Bowel Disease

      2015, Surgical Clinics of North America
      Citation Excerpt :

      These early studies suggested that CE was sensitive in detecting mucosal abnormalities and might be useful in aiding diagnosis for equivocal cases in Crohn's disease. Comparison of CE with other imaging modalities, such as small bowel enterography, SBFT,41 and CTE,42 consistently shows that CE can detect small bowel abnormalities that are missed by conventional tests (Box 2). In these cases, the detected mucosal lesions are often small and located in the proximal ileum or jejunum, areas that are poorly accessible with endoscopic techniques.

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text