%0 Journal Article %J Eur J Pediatr %D 2011 %T Usefulness of wireless capsule endoscopy for detecting inflammatory bowel disease in children presenting with arthropathy. %A Taddio, Andrea %A Simonini, Gabriele %A Lionetti, Paolo %A Lepore, Loredana %A Martelossi, Stefano %A Ventura, Alessandro %A Cimaz, Rolando %K Adolescent %K Arthritis, Juvenile %K Capsule Endoscopy %K Child %K Colitis, Ulcerative %K Colon %K Crohn Disease %K Diagnosis, Differential %K Follow-Up Studies %K Humans %K Inflammatory Bowel Diseases %K Intestine, Small %K Male %K Predictive Value of Tests %K Sensitivity and Specificity %K Severity of Illness Index %K Treatment Outcome %X

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a cause of chronic intestinal inflammation in children. In a subset of patients affected by IBD, arthropathy may be the leading presenting sign. In the past years, remarkable advances in gastrointestinal endoscopy techniques have been achieved; recently, the development of capsule endoscopy (CE) provided a non-invasive method for the complete endoscopic evaluation, including small bowel assessment. We report three children suffering from IBD but presenting with articular complaints in whom CE was a useful tool for detecting gut inflammation. Patients were investigated with the wireless CE: PillCam SB2 (Given Imaging, Yoqneam, Israel) capsule, the second-generation capsule, was used in our paediatric patients. Three patients were initially evaluated for arthropathy. Enteropathic arthritis was suspected for gastrointestinal symptoms and/or persistence of inflammatory markers elevation. In one of these children, conventional endoscopy was refused by parents, while in the other two children, CE was proposed as first-line diagnostic tool. In all patients, CE revealed to be safe and provided information that led to diagnosis. Paediatric rheumatologists should consider CE as a valid, non-invasive tool, eventually first level diagnostic approach in order to evaluate the presence of IBD in children presenting with chronic articular complaints.

%B Eur J Pediatr %V 170 %P 1343-7 %8 2011 Oct %G eng %N 10 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21643650?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1007/s00431-011-1505-7