MedWire News: In Crohn's disease patients who have undergone surgery, an examination method involving a 'camera pill' is more effective at spotting recurrence of the disease than the traditional method of colonoscopy that involves the use of a long tube inserted into the rectum, study results show.

Unsurprisingly, patients in the study also preferred the camera pill examination, called capsule endoscopy, which involves swallowing a small capsule containing a tiny camera that beams back images from inside their intestines.

Writing in the journal Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Dr Vicente Pons Beltrán and colleagues from La Fe University Hospital in Valencia, Spain, explain that many Crohn's disease patients will eventually experience recurrence of the disease after undergoing surgery to remove the affected part of their intestines.

They say that the early identification of recurrent Crohn's disease helps doctors treat the condition before patients experience full-blown symptoms.

But the researchers add that the effectiveness of "postsurgery capsule endoscopy in detecting recurrence in patients with Crohn's disease is yet to be confirmed".

To address this, the team studied 24 Crohn's disease patients who had previously undergone surgery at their hospital.

All the patients underwent bowel examinations with the camera pill and colonoscopy.

The researchers found that camera pill identified 62% Crohn's disease recurrence in the small intestine of 62% of the patients, while colonoscopy identified small intestine recurrence in just 25% of the group.

All the patients preferred examinations conducted with the camera pill than those conducted with colonoscopy.

"Capsule endoscopy is more effective in the evaluation of recurrence after surgery for Crohn's disease and is better tolerated than colonoscopy," Dr Beltrán and team conclude.

They add that capsule endoscopy "will undoubtedly improve the therapeutic management of the disease".