[Video-capsule endoscopy in children with unexplained symptoms of the small intestine].

Video-capsule endoscopy was used in 4 children with unexplained symptoms of the small intestine. Each patient swallowed a capsule of 11 by 27 mm, which contained a camera that takes 2 images per second (in children aged less than 8 years, the capsule was placed in the duodenum under sedation). In a 3-year-old girl with rectal bleeding following partial resection of the colon and small intestine, ulcers were seen proximal to the ileorectal anastomosis. In a 14-year-old boy with Crohn's disease and an abnormal growth curve, multiple stenoses of the small intestine were seen. In an 8-year-old boy with rectal bleeding, a solitary polypoid mass was seen that, upon operation, appeared to be the result of a partially invaginated Meckel's diverticulum. In a 17-year-old boy with weight loss, rectal bleeding and colitis, abnormalities were seen that were consistent with Crohn's disease. Patients were treated based on the endoscopic results and subsequently recovered. Video-capsule endoscopy is non-invasive and painless and provides better images of the small intestine than a standard endoscopic and radiological examination.