title: Capsule endoscopy in the evaluation of gastrointestinal disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The small bowel has been a technically difficult area to examine. Indirect modalities such as barium follow-through have the disadvantage of attendant radiation exposure. Capsule endoscopy, a novel wireless method of investigation of the small bowel, has acquired an important role in both adult and paediatric medicine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The clinical utility of capsule endoscopy has rapidly expanded since its approval by the Food & Drug Administration in the USA in 2001. It has developed an established role in adults, in the investigation of obscure gastrointestinal bleeding, small bowel Crohn's disease, complications of coeliac disease and surveillance of polyposis syndromes. Despite a lag in its use in paediatrics, capsule endoscopy offers an accurate and effective means of investigating the small bowel in children. It has opened up new horizons and permitted a noninvasive approach to identifying occult lesions in the small bowel of children when conventional imaging has been unhelpful.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review appraises the current literature to define the clinical indications and practical aspects of capsule endoscopy that are of interest to the paediatrician.
authors: Department of Gastroenterology, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Glossop Road, Sheffield, UK. reena_sidhu@yahoo.com
authors: Reena
authors: R
authors: Sidhu
authors: Mark E
authors: ME
authors: McAlindon
authors: David S
authors: DS
authors: Sanders
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Thomson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D053704:Capsule Endoscopy / Q000379:methods; D002648:Child; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans