PREPARATION PROTOCOLS BEFORE CAPSULE ENDOSCOPY

Aims In the current literature, some series showed similar results between a PEG solution and a clear liquid diet on the day before the CE. The aim of this study was to compare Brotz´s enteral cleansing scales between two enteric preparation protocols in patients undergoing CE.

Methods The authors performed a retrospective single-center analysis of CE. The enteric preparation protocols were

1. clear liquid diet on the previous day plus 8 hour fasting,

2. 2 liters of PEG solution plus simeticone.

The CE videos were graded regarding the level of cleanliness according to 2 grading scales developed by Brotz et al previously described:

• quantitative index (QI), which grades the level of cleanliness with a score ranging from 0 to 10 and

• qualitative evaluation (QE), which grades the degree of cleanliness as excellent, good, fair and poor. The diagnostic yield between the 2 protocols was also evaluated.

Results 110 CE were analyzed, 52.7% (n = 58) were female, with a mean age of 56.1 years-old

(± 18). 52.7% (n = 58) of the patients had the clear liquid diet protocol and 47.3% (n = 52) the PEG protocol. Sex, age and indication for CE were not significantly different between the two protocols. In addition, there were no significant differences between the PEG and the liquid diet in relation to the QI (8.13 ± 1.56 vs. 7.47 ± 1.97, p = 0.05) and the QE cleansing grades (excellent: 15.4% vs. 13.8%, good: 48.1% vs. 39.7%, reasonable: 25% vs. 27.6%, poor: 11.5% vs. 19%, p = 0.67). The diagnostic yield was not different between the 2 protocols (PEG: 58.8% vs Clear liquid diet: 55.2%, p = 0.7).

Conclusions The use of a PEG solution did not show to affect the small-bowel cleansing in CE when evaluated by QI and QE Brotz scales, and did not affect the diagnostic yield of CE.