[Role of endoscopic capsule in the diagnosis of digestive diseases]

The recent development of the endoscopic capsule allows for the endoscopic study of the whole small intestine on a safe and non-invasive basis. Digestive hemorrhage of unknown origin is the main indication of the technique (sensitivity 89%, specificity 95%). In these cases, a high diagnostic accuracy is seen in patients with active bleeding (92.3%), which nevertheless decreases notably in patients with previous non-active bleeding (12.9%). Capsule endoscopy has also been proposed in patients with a clinical and laboratory suspicion of Crohn's disease involving the small bowel which has not been diagnosed through conventional techniques. Finally, the usefulness of capsule endoscopy for the management of other diseases such as celiac disease, intestinal tumors, gastrointestinal polyposis, abdominal pain of unknown origin, in pediatric patients or in the bowel involvement of systemic diseases should be established by means of well-designed, broad studies.