Published online Feb 16, 2019. doi: 10.4253/wjge.v11.i2.124
Peer-review started: December 29, 2018
First decision: January 12, 2019
Revised: January 20, 2019
Accepted: January 26, 2019
Article in press: January 26, 2019
Published online: February 16, 2019
Capsule endoscopy (CE) is frequently used in clinical practice to evaluate a wide spectrum of gastrointestinal symptoms and diseases. Capsule technology has advanced over time; however, it remains unclear if upgrades in capsule technology enhance clinically relevant findings during the procedure.
The Pillcam® SB3 capsule is a commonly used capsule that provides superior image quality and an adaptive frame rate advantage over the previous versions of the capsule the Pillcam® SB2. It has been proposed that these improvements may result in improved diagnostic yields of the CE study.
To assess clinically relevant findings of SB3 and SB2 capsules in a population of United States veterans.
A retrospective analysis of 260 consecutive CE studies was performed including 130 SB3 and 130 SB2 capsule studies. The primary outcome measured was the detection of clinically relevant findings between SB3 and SB2 capsules. Whether the capsule study resulted in a change in clinical management was evaluated as a secondary measure.
The overall rate of clinically relevant finding was 48.9% in our study. No significant difference was observed in SB3 vs SB2 capsules for clinically relevant findings (46.2% vs 51.5%, P = 0.385) or change in clinical management (40.8% vs 50.0%, P = 0.135).
Our study found no significant difference in clinically relevant findings between SB3 and SB2 capsules.
Improvements in capsule technology should be critically analyzed to determine their impact on clinical practice. Further prospective research is warranted to confirm the results of our study.