Abstract
Aim The aim of this work was to evaluate the performance of colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) in a lower gastrointestinal diagnostic care pathway. Method This large multicentre prospective clinical evaluation recruited symptomatic patients (patients requiring investigation of symptoms suggestive of colorectal pathology) and surveillance patients (patients due to undergo surveillance colonoscopy). Patients aged 18 years or over were invited to participate and undergo CCE by a secondary-care clinician if they met the referral criteria for a colonoscopy. The primary outcome was the test completion rate (visualization of the whole colon and rectum). We also measured the need for further tests after CCE. Results A total of 733 patients were invited to take part in this evaluation, with 509 patients undergoing CCE. Of these, 316 were symptomatic patients and 193 were surveillance patients. Two hundred and twenty-eight of the 316 symptomatic patients (72%) and 137 of the 193 surveillance patients (71%) had a complete test. It was found that 118/316 (37%) of symptomatic patients required no further test following CCE, while 103/316 (33%) and 81/316 (26%) required a colonoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy, respectively. Fifty-three of the 193 surveillance patients (28%) required no further test following CCE, while 104/193 (54%) and 30/193 (16%) required a colonoscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy, respectively. No patient in this evaluation was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Two patients experienced serious adverse events - one capsule retention with obstruction and one hospital admission with dehydration due to the bowel preparation. Conclusion CCE is a safe, well-tolerated diagnostic test which can reduce the proportion of patients requiring colonoscopy, but the test completion rate needs to be improved to match that of lower gastrointestinal endoscopy.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 411-421 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Colorectal Disease |
Volume | 24 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 3 Jan 2022 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 29 Apr 2022 |
Bibliographical note
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe would like to thank all patients and sites that participated in the ScotCap evaluation.
Funding Information:
This study was funded by the Scottish Government which had no role in the study design, data collection, analysis or interpretation of results, or writing of this report. We would like to thank all patients and sites that participated in the ScotCap evaluation.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland.
Keywords
- colon capsule endoscopy
- colorectal polyps
- faecal immunochemistry testing
- innovation
- lower gastrointestinal diagnostics
- COLON CAPSULE ENDOSCOPY
- COLORECTAL-CANCER
- COLONOSCOPY
- COLONOGRAPHY
- QUALITY