Effect of longer battery life on small bowel capsule endoscopy

To determine if longer battery life improves capsule endoscopy (CE) completion rates.

A retrospective study was performed at a tertiary, university-affiliated hospital in Vancouver, Canada. Patients who underwent CE with either PillCam™ SB2 or SB2U between 01/2010 and 12/2013 were considered for inclusion. SB2 and SB2U share identical physical dimensions but differ in their battery lives (8 h vs 12 h). Exclusion criteria included history of gastric or small bowel surgery, endoscopic placement of CE, interrupted view of major landmarks due to technical difficulty or significant amount of debris, and repeat CE using same system. Basic demographics, comorbidities, medications, baseline bowel habits, and previous surgeries were reviewed. Timing of major landmarks in CE were recorded, and used to calculate gastric transit time, small bowel transit time, and total recording time. A complete CE study was defined as visualization of cecum. Transit times and completion rates were compared.

Four hundred and eight patients, including 208 (51.0%) males, were included for analysis. The mean age was 55.5 ± 19.3 years. The most common indication for CE was gastrointestinal bleeding (n = 254, 62.3%), followed by inflammatory bowel disease (n = 86, 21.1%). There was no difference in gastric transit times (group difference 0.90, 95%CI: 0.72-1.13, P = 0.352) and small bowel transit times (group difference 1.07, 95%CI: 0.95-1.19, P = 0.261) between SB2U and SB2, but total recording time was about 14% longer in the SB2U group (95%CI: 10%-18%, P < 0.001) and there was a corresponding trend toward higher completion rate (88.2% vs 93.2%, OR = 1.78, 95%CI 0.88-3.63, P = 0.111). There was no statistically significant difference in the rates of positive findings (OR = 0.98, 95%CI: 0.64-1.51, P = 0.918).

Extending the operating time of CE may be a simple method to improve completion rate although it does not affect the rate of positive findings.