Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Mar 14, 2024; 30(10): 1270-1279
Published online Mar 14, 2024. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v30.i10.1270
Capsule endoscopy and panendoscopy: A journey to the future of gastrointestinal endoscopy
Bruno Rosa, José Cotter
Bruno Rosa, José Cotter, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital da Senhora da Oliveira, Guimarães 4835-044, Portugal
Bruno Rosa, José Cotter, Life and Health Sciences Research Institute, School of Medicine, University of Minho, Braga 4710-057, Portugal
Bruno Rosa, José Cotter, ICVS/3B's, PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga 4710-057, Portugal
Author contributions: Rosa B conceived the work, performed the literature review, and wrote the manuscript; Cotter J critically contributed to the intellectual content and formal structure of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Bruno Rosa has received consultancy fees from Medtronic in the past. José Cotter declares no conflicts of interest regarding this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Bruno Rosa, MD, Doctor, Department of Gastroenterology, Hospital da Senhora da Oliveira, Rua dos Cutileiros, Creixomil, Guimarães 4835-044, Portugal. bruno.joel.rosa@gmail.com
Received: December 26, 2023
Peer-review started: December 26, 2023
First decision: January 10, 2024
Revised: January 22, 2024
Accepted: February 21, 2024
Article in press: February 21, 2024
Published online: March 14, 2024
Processing time: 79 Days and 0.8 Hours
Abstract

In 2000, the small bowel capsule revolutionized the management of patients with small bowel disorders. Currently, the technological development achieved by the new models of double-headed endoscopic capsules, as miniaturized devices to evaluate the small bowel and colon [pan-intestinal capsule endoscopy (PCE)], makes this non-invasive procedure a disruptive concept for the management of patients with digestive disorders. This technology is expected to identify which patients will require conventional invasive endoscopic procedures (colonoscopy or balloon-assisted enteroscopy), based on the lesions detected by the capsule, i.e., those with an indication for biopsies or endoscopic treatment. The use of PCE in patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, namely Crohn’s disease, as well as in patients with iron deficiency anaemia and/or overt gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, after a non-diagnostic upper endoscopy (esophagogastroduodenoscopy), enables an effective, safe and comfortable way to identify patients with relevant lesions, who should undergo subsequent invasive endoscopic procedures. The recent development of magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy to evaluate the upper GI tract, is a further step towards the possibility of an entirely non-invasive assessment of all the segments of the digestive tract, from mouth-to-anus, meeting the expectations of the early developers of capsule endoscopy.

Keywords: Non-invasive endoscopy; Panendoscopy; Magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy; Crohn’s disease; Digestive bleeding

Core Tip: Double-headed capsules are being increasingly used for pan-intestinal endoscopy, assessing the small bowel and the colon in a single non-invasive procedure, mainly to monitor Crohn’s disease and to investigate cases of suspected mid to lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Recent developments on artificial intelligence and magnetically controlled capsules have further expanded the scope of non-invasive endoscopy.