Premium
Review article: capsule endoscopy – are all small intestinal lesions Crohn's disease?
Author(s) -
BARMEIR S.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
alimentary pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.308
H-Index - 177
eISSN - 1365-2036
pISSN - 0269-2813
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2036.2006.03054.x
Subject(s) - medicine , capsule endoscopy , radiation enteritis , disease , gastroenterology , pathological , crohn's disease , endoscopy , small intestine , capsule , gold standard (test) , hyperplasia , lymphoma , crohn disease , lymphoid hyperplasia , enteritis , pathology , botany , biology
Summary Capsule endoscopy is the gold‐standard examination for the diagnosis of Crohn's disease (CD) of the small intestine. Its incremental yield over other imaging modalities is above 30%. It is important to keep in mind that over 10% of healthy subjects demonstrate mucosal breaks and erosions in their small intestinal mucosa. Thus, one should refrain from diagnosing CD based on the existence of a few erosions and ulcers of the small intestine. Such erosions and ulcers may in fact be the result of non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug intake and other pathological conditions such as lymphoid hyperplasia, lymphoma and radiation enteritis. Non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drug intake should, therefore, be excluded as a cause prior to relating the presence of lesions to CD. Misdiagnosis of CD may be harmful to the patient because if unresponsive, intensification of therapy may occur and occasionally an unnecessary operation may be performed. At the same time, the patient may also be deprived of the appropriate therapy for the treatment of their condition.