How effective is capsule endoscopy at detecting the source of small bowel bleeding?
In an initial study, investigators showed that the capsule was better than routine endoscopy or enteroscopy at locating small beads that had been implanted into an animal’s intestine. Other studies have shown the capsule is more effective than small bowel x-rays at finding the cause of bleeding. In 2001, the first human studies reported that capsule endoscopy not only found all of the bleeding sources seen using standard endoscopy, but also an additional bleeding cause in 56% of patients for whom traditional endoscopy had not been successful. Overall, in cases of what is known as occult bleeding (blood is microscopically present in the stool, but the stool looks normal), capsule endoscopy finds a potential source of bleeding in up to 67% of patients. In cases of overt bleeding (blood is seen in the stool or the stool is black and tarry as a result of digested blood), the results are highly variable. If the bleed happened in the past, the yield may be as low as 6%. If, however, the doct
