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Hidden Places, Video Files, and the Internet
The small bowel is a long, convoluted tube (Figure 1, image from VH Dissector Pro, Touch of Life Technologies: Aurora, Colorado). Evaluation of the small bowel has been somewhat problematic. Radiographs, nuclear medicine tests, and various endoscopes have been employed, but there have still been a large number of undiagnosed problems affecting this organ. Small bowel capsule imaging has been FDA approved for approximately three years (to evaluate suspected bleeding from the small intestine and Crohn’s disease) and has become a standard method for evaluation of small bowel disease. There are currently 1,000 centers in the US in which this procedure is being performed. There are over 100 articles published in which capsule endoscopy has been used to appraise conditions including Crohn's disease, occult bleeding, tumors, and other abnormailites of the gastrointestinal tract (1-4).
A more comprehensive review of this subject by Dr. David Cave is provided in this issue of VHJOE. His review highlights why wireless capsule studies are here to stay.
In addition to accessing previous hidden areas of the human body, capsule imaging brings video files into mainstream GI. Publication of the video clips generated during a capsule evaluation is ideally suited to the internet and electronic rather than paper media. At VHJOE, we have previously published (see in Volume 2, Issue 2) and are interested in publishing more cases which employ capsule video clips. We encourage potential authors to consider submitting interesting cases which are associated with capsule video.
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Figure 1 |
References
1. Fireman Z, Mahajna E, Broide E, Shapiro M, Fich L, Sternberg A, Kopelman Y, Scapa E. Diagnosing small bowel Crohn's disease with wireless capsule endoscopy. Gut. 2003 Mar;52(3):390-2.
2. Ell C, Remke S, May A, Helou L, Henrich R, Mayer G. The first prospective controlled trial comparing wireless capsule endoscopy with push enteroscopy in chronic gastrointestinal bleeding. Endoscopy. 2002 Sep;34(9):685-9.
3. de Franchis R, Rondonotti E, Abbiati C, Beccari G, Merighi A, Pinna A, Villa E. Capsule enteroscopy in small bowel transplantation. Dig Liver Dis. 2003 Oct;35(10):728-31.
4. de Mascarenhas-Saraiva MN, da Silva Araujo Lopes LM. Small-bowel tumors diagnosed by wireless capsule endoscopy: report of five cases. Endoscopy. 2003 Oct;35(10):865-8.
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