Use of Capsule Endoscopy in Diagnosis and Management of Pediatric Patients, Based on Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND & AIMS: To further our understanding of capsule endoscopy (CE) in children, we systematically compiled data on indications and outcomes and evaluated the effectiveness of CE on patient management using meta-analyses. METHODS: We searched the Medline and PubMed databases (January 2001-May 2010) for English language citations of use of CE in patients <= 18 years old. Duplicate reports and those that included 5 patients or fewer were removed. We analyzed data from 15 source documents with 740 CE procedures in 723 patients. RESULTS: Suspicion or evaluation of inflammatory bowel diseases was the most common indication for CE (54%: 34% for patients suspected to have Crohn's disease [CD], 16% for patients known to have CD, 1% for patients with ulcerative colitis, and 3% for patients with indeterminate colitis). Completion and retention rates were 86.2% (95% confidence interval [CI], 81.5-90.3) and 2.6% (95% CI, 1.5-4.0), respectively. Retention rates for children that underwent gastric (0.5%) or small bowel (1.9%) CE were similar to those of adults, by indication. For CE, 65.4% of procedures resulted in positive findings (95% CI, 54.8-75.2). Where reported, 69.4% of CE examinations (95% CI, 46.9-87.9) resulted in a new diagnosis and 68.3% (95% CI, 43.6-88.5) led to change in therapy. CONCLUSIONS: The relative frequency of CE indications varies among pediatric and adult patients. In pediatric patients, CE is used primarily to evaluate patients with CD- to aid in diagnosis, monitor disease severity, and assist patient management. Retention rates appear to be related to indication, rather than patient age; capsule retention is relatively infrequent for adults and children.