Capsule endoscopy diagnoses more Crohn's disease recurrence after surgery than c...( OAK BROOK Ill. - September 26 2007 ...),Health

OAK BROOK, Ill. - September 26, 2007 Research from La Fe University Hospital in Valencia, Spain shows that capsule endoscopy diagnoses more Crohns disease recurrence after surgery than colonoscopy. Capsule endoscopy led to changes in therapy for more than half of the patients studied. The research appears in the September issue of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

Crohns disease is a chronic condition that causes inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, most commonly affecting the small intestine and colon (large intestine). According to the Crohns and Colitis Foundation of America, approximately half a million people in the United States have Crohns disease. Researchers do not know what causes the disease and there is no cure, so the goal of treatment is to reduce the inflammatory response. Surgery becomes necessary when medication can no longer control symptoms. In most cases, the diseased segment of the intestines is removed, this is called a resection. The two sections of the remaining healthy intestines are joined together in a procedure called anastomosis. While patients may live symptom-free for years, surgery is not a cure and disease frequently recurs at or near the site of the anastomosis.

Colonoscopy is the gold standard in screening for colorectal cancer, which develops in the large intestine. It is effective in diagnosing diseases of the large intestine and in viewing the end part of the small intestine. Capsule endoscopy allows physicians to view the entire small intestine, but is not currently a method used to view the large intestine.

Crohns disease occurs in both the small and large intestines. In this study we found that compared to colonoscopy, capsule endoscopy was able to identify Crohns disease recurrence in 62 percent of patients, whereas colonoscopy only identified inflammatory lesions in 25 percent of patients,
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