The role of PillCam endoscopy in Crohn's disease: the European experience.

The European experience of wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) inCrohn's disease (CD) is presented. Evidence from prospectivestudies comparing WCE with standard methods speaks in favor ofWCE as the method with the highest sensitivity for diagnosingsmall intestinal CD. WCE is likely to be helpful in diagnosing CD,in determining the extent of the disease, and in providing infor-mation on which of the current treatment approaches are specifi-cally effective within the small intestine. Although the invention ofthe patency capsule was helpful for diagnosing and characterizingsmall bowel strictures, the problem of capsule retention in CDpatients remains a controversial issue.