Wireless Capsule Endoscopy in Small-Bowel Crohn's Disease

A Prospective Trial of Wireless Capsule Endoscopy in Small-Bowel Crohn's Disease

The purpose of this study is to determine the best role for capsule endoscopy in diagnosing Crohn's disease.

Wireless capsule endoscopy (CE) is a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved technology that allows viewing of the entire small-bowel. Capsule endoscopy involves swallowing a pill-sized camera that sends images to a data recorder worn on a vest. Because Crohn's disease (CD) often involves the small bowel, we would like to find out if capsule endoscopy is useful in diagnosing small-bowel Crohn's disease. Current methods for diagnosing small-bowel Crohn's disease include colonoscopy, esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), enteroscopy (ENT), single contrast barium small-bowel follow through (SBFT), and double contrast small-bowel enteroclysis (SBE), but these tests are unable to identify the presence or extent of small-bowel disease in many patients.

Inclusion Criteria:

• English speaking adult patients (>18 years old) with known Crohn's disease

Exclusion Criteria:

• Severe medical or psychiatric co-morbidities
• Active swallowing problems
• Bowel obstruction
• History of stricture or fistula
• Pregnancy
• Taking aspirin/non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) or potassium chloride (KCl) within 4 weeks prior to the colonoscopy and anytime after colonoscopy
• Inability to consent
• Exclusion of patients whose colonoscopy was done for reasons other than signs/symptoms suggestive of Crohn's disease