**3. Video capsule endoscopy**

Video capsule endoscopy is a noninvasive technique that has proven effective for the evaluation of patients with suspected small bowel bleeding. It enables the whole small bowel to be examined. Several studies have shown its superiority over more conventional methods, including barium x-ray. Capsule endoscopy is currently considered the procedure of choice in small bowel diseases. However, this technique has a series of limitations that have yet to be resolved, namely, the real significance of findings and false negatives, and that it is only diagnostic (Figure 2).

As the diagnostic potential of this technique and treatment options have become clearer, its indications have varied and now include the following:


The patient must be well prepared in order to ensure good image quality: 8 hours' fasting, low-residue diet during the days before the procedure, and antifoam solutions and bowel cleansing solutions (increasingly recommended). Complications are exceptional and no deaths have been reported. The main complications include inability to swallow the capsule (in which case it must be inserted using an endoscope), contact with pyriform sinuses,

Video capsule endoscopy is a noninvasive technique that has proven effective for the evaluation of patients with suspected small bowel bleeding. It enables the whole small bowel to be examined. Several studies have shown its superiority over more conventional methods, including barium x-ray. Capsule endoscopy is currently considered the procedure of choice in small bowel diseases. However, this technique has a series of limitations that have yet to be resolved, namely, the real significance of findings and false negatives, and

Fig. 2. Geographic ulcer in the ileum surrounded by edema suggestive of Crohn disease

indications have varied and now include the following: - Gastrointestinal hemorrhage of unknown origin





As the diagnostic potential of this technique and treatment options have become clearer, its


The patient must be well prepared in order to ensure good image quality: 8 hours' fasting, low-residue diet during the days before the procedure, and antifoam solutions and bowel cleansing solutions (increasingly recommended). Complications are exceptional and no deaths have been reported. The main complications include inability to swallow the capsule (in which case it must be inserted using an endoscope), contact with pyriform sinuses,

which ultrasound findings alone are characteristic and diagnostic.

**3. Video capsule endoscopy** 

that it is only diagnostic (Figure 2).

from inflammatory abnormalities (neoplastic or other). In pediatric patients, the technique reveals conditions such as concentric pyloric stenosis and intussusception, in contact with the esophagus or a bronchus, delay in evacuating the stomach, retention in an afferent loop, retention in lesions of the small intestine (stenosis, diverticula, tumors), or malfunctioning capsule (short recording time, interference by magnetic sources, or error in the images due to disconnection of a sensor).

Capsule endoscopy makes it possible to examine the whole small bowel, and several studies have shown its superiority over other more conventional modalities, including barium xray. However, this technique is not completely reliable, and a series of limitations have yet to be resolved, including the real significance of specific findings and false negatives attributable to the presence of food and liquid residue, the lack of distension or propulsion, and rapid passage through large segments. The main drawback of capsule endoscopy is that it exclusively diagnostic, with limited capacity for locating the lesion accurately and no options for biopsy or therapeutic procedures.
