PREVALENCE OF SMALL BOWEL POLYPS IN PATIENTS WITH ACROMEGALY BY USING CAPSULE ENDOSCOPY

Aims:

The prevalence of colonic polyposis is higher in acromegalic patients compared to normal population. Only one study shows an increased prevalence of polyps in small bowel in acromegalic population.

The objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of polyps in the small bowel in acromegalic patients using capsule endoscopy (CE).

Methods:

A prospective, comparative, observational study was performed in patients with acromegaly. The presence of polyposis was evaluated in this population, comparing it against patients with CE due to other causes (abdominal pain, chronic diarrhea and anemia). Gastric transit time (GTT) and intestinal transit time (ITT) of the CE, incomplete visualization and complications were also analyzed.

Results:

There were included 61 patients per group, acromegalic patients (AC) had a median age of 55.9 years old (IQR 46, 64) and 37.7% were female, non-acromegalic patients (NAC) had a median age of 56 years (IQR 37, 69) and 62.3% were female. The CE GTT of the AC was 26 min (IQR 10, 96) and 23 min (IQR 12, 51) in the NAC group (p = 0.844). The CE ITT of the AC was 302.26 min (± 115.35) and 263.37 (± 102.68) in the NAC (p = 0.019). The small bowel incomplete visualization in the AC was of 9 cases (14.8%) and 11 cases (18%) in the NAC. There were 6 (9.8%) patients with polyps found in the CE of the AC group and 1 patient with polyps (1.6%) in the NAC group, with an odds ratio of 6.54 (95% CI, 0.76 – 56.10, p = 0.052). There were no complications in either group.

Conclusions:

Patients with AC showed a higher CE ITT and more small bowel polyps with a statistical significance tendency.