Can a Video Capsule Differentiate Ulcerative Colitis from Crohn’s Disease?

(PRWEB) June 17, 2004

The Foundation for Clinical Research in IBD recently awarded a grant to Andrew S. Ross, MD, and David T. Rubin, MD, at The University of Chicago. Drs. Ross and Rubin will conduct a pilot study to determine if Wireless Capsule Endoscopy can more effectively distinguish ulcerative colitis from Crohn’s disease.

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease are two types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Ulcerative colitis affects only the colon (the large intestines). Crohn’s disease can be found in any part of the gastrointestinal tract.

Up until now, physicians have used standard endoscopy, a patient’s history, and radiological studies to determine if a patient has ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. Any evidence of disease in the small intestine indicates Crohn’s disease. Yet, standard endoscopies are unable to visualize the entire small intestine, and a proportion of patients initially diagnosed with ulcerative colitis have later learned that they have Crohn’s disease.

Wireless Capsule Endoscopy – the “camera in a pill” – may allow physicians to make a more definitive diagnosis. The color video camera can record as many as 50,000 images of the digestive tract during an eight-hour period. In theory, it would allow physicians to see substantially more of the small intestine and to detect any signs of Crohn’s disease.

Drs. Ross and Rubin will enroll 116 patients in their study. Half will have active ulcerative colitis. The other 58 individuals will have no indication of either ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease. Both groups will undergo Wireless Capsule Endoscopy. Two independent examiners, who will not know which study participants have ulcerative colitis, will review the results of the endoscopies.

“We expect that a significant proportion of patients with ulcerative colitis will have small bowel involvement,” says Dr. Ross. “If our hypothesis is correct, it will tell us one of two things: those patients actually have Crohn’s disease or their disease pathology indicates that another type of IBD has yet to be identified. In either case, gastroenterologists will be better able to treat these patients’ disease.”

For more information about this groundbreaking study, visit the Foundation’s Web site at http://www.clinicalresearchinibd.org.