A PillCam endoscopy, including PillCam SB and PillCam ESO, administered in an urgent or emergency room setting could increase diagnostic yield (W1588), stratify high-risk patients (S1423) and lead to better patient management, new studies have found.
PillCam SB is able to speed up the time it takes to diagnose disease states such as anaemia, Crohn’s disease, upper gastrointestinal bleeding and occult or obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB), and can prevent the need for additional diagnostic tests, said studies presented at the Digestive Disease Week 2010 conference in New Orleans, US.
PillCam SB should be used aggressively to evaluate patients with moderate to severe anaemia, with a 72.7% diagnostic yield among severely anaemic patients and a 69.7% ability to guide further intervention.
PillCam ESO is an emergency room tool to expedite triaging of patients presenting with upper gastrointestinal bleeding (UGIB) or non-cardiac chest pain, said studies.
According to the Diagnostic Role of Capsule Endoscopy in Patients with Symptoms Highly Compatible With Crohn’s Disease study by Dr Livia Biancone of Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, lesions compatible with small bowel Crohn’s disease were detected in 35% of patients but had undefined diagnoses after inconclusive ileocolonoscopy.
According to the Inter-Observer Agreement for Detection of Small Bowel Crohn’s Disease with Capsule Endoscopy study by Dr Jens Kjeldsen, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark, in patients with suspected and known Crohn’s disease, capsule endoscopy is performed with substantial inter-observer agreement.
