de Franchis Roberto, Rondonotti Emanuele, Villa Federica
Department of Medical Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
Dig Dis. 2007;25(3):249-51. doi: 10.1159/000103895.
Capsule endoscopy is a new technology that was recently introduced into clinical practice for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal diseases. As of today, three different capsule types have been produced, designed for the exploration of the small bowel (PillCam SB), the esophagus (PillCam ESO) and the colon (PillCam Colon). The PillCam SB has gained widespread acceptance as a powerful tool for the diagnosis of bleeding from the small bowel as well as for other indications. The PillCam ESO has been used to study patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease, for the screening of Barrett's esophagus, and for the screening and surveillance of esophageal varices in patients with cirrhosis. The results of the pilot studies carried out with this capsule have been encouraging. Large-scale studies are ongoing. The evaluation of the potential of the PillCam Colon capsule is still in its infancy: the two pilot studies published showed that this capsule can produce high-quality images of the colon. The potential of this capsule for clinical purposes, such as colon cancer screening, needs to be evaluated.
胶囊内镜是一项最近引入临床实践用于诊断胃肠道疾病的新技术。截至目前，已生产出三种不同类型的胶囊，分别设计用于探查小肠（小肠胶囊内镜）、食管（食管胶囊内镜）和结肠（结肠胶囊内镜）。小肠胶囊内镜作为诊断小肠出血以及其他适应证的有力工具已获得广泛认可。食管胶囊内镜已用于研究胃食管反流病患者、筛查巴雷特食管以及筛查和监测肝硬化患者的食管静脉曲张。用这种胶囊进行的初步研究结果令人鼓舞。大规模研究正在进行中。结肠胶囊内镜的潜力评估仍处于起步阶段：已发表的两项初步研究表明，这种胶囊能够产生高质量的结肠图像。这种胶囊用于结肠癌筛查等临床目的的潜力有待评估。
