A new report from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center showed capsule endoscopy detected cases of Crohn's disease of small bowel that were undiagnosed for up to 15 years. In this study, 198 cases with unexplained gastrointestinal bleeding were evaluated using video capsule endoscopy. This device takes numerous pictures from gastrointestinal lining as it travels through the digestive tract and it has been particularly useful in detecting the lesions of the small bowel where the other tests such as endoscopy or colonoscopy can not reach. In this study, Video Capsule Endoscopy diagnosed 6 cases of undiagnosed Crohn's Disease in patients who had colonoscopies and other types of tests. The most common use of this test currenly include the diagnosis of gastrointestinal bleeding with obscure source. Healthday
2007-10-22 13:30:01