Do pill cams show more than colonoscopies?

[Essieluv]

So, what's the verdict? Do pill cams show more than endo/colonoscopies? I'm asking because I had a colonoscopy that didn't show extreme amounts of inflammation/ulcers/active disease, but I am having horrible symptoms. I just know more is going on than what the colonoscopy showed, and I want to figure it out. Advice? I've also had fecal tests done, MRE, blood work, and flexible sigmoidoscopy. I'm just feeling so hopeless and stuck, and I really want to have some evidence of why I am feeling so rotten.

 

[lblair]

pill cam looks at the small bowel so what I understand yes sometimes they cant get the colonoscopy to go that far I have both pill cam showed the Crohn's and the bleed in the small bowel!!!!

 

[sickofcrohns]

lblair is right. PillCams go through your entire digestive system, including the whole small intestine, so they're good for detecting problems in that organ where colonoscopes can't reach.

Unless you're going to get a balloon enteroscopy (*quite* unusual and with a risk of perforations), whatever scopes you've had have only peeked into your small intestine, if they've gotten there at all. So if your problems are mostly localized in your small intestine, a colonoscopy won't have shown much.

That said, colonoscopies are way better for visualizing the colon (large intestine) than PillCams are, and PillCams can't do biopsies -- so the prep you did for the colonoscopy wasn't a waste!

 

[Essieluv]

I have Crohn's in my TI area, and I am having pretty bad pain in my lower left abdomine, so I am thinking that I must have at least some activity in my small intestine. Does the pillcam show more than an MRE? Because my doctor has only said my small intestine is clear based on an MRE. But how much can an MRE show? Especially when I can't drink all of the barium?

 

[723crossroads]

So, what's the verdict? Do pill cams show more than endo/colonoscopies? I'm asking because I had a colonoscopy that didn't show extreme amounts of inflammation/ulcers/active disease, but I am having horrible symptoms. I just know more is going on than what the colonoscopy showed, and I want to figure it out. Advice? I've also had fecal tests done, MRE, blood work, and flexible sigmoidoscopy. I'm just feeling so hopeless and stuck, and I really want to have some evidence of why I am feeling so rotten.

Pillcams cover the very long and winding small intestine where the colonoscopy and endoscopy do not go. I am having one soon myself as I am now in your boat. I did have ulcers in the ileum and colon when first diagnosed. But not last time I had one in Jan. or Feb. This is probably the last test to take. I hope once and for all I can see if the crohn's is in remission. I am having so many symptoms though and know something is up! Good luck to you and don't worry. People on here told me to do a dummy pillcam first to make sure there are no blockages the pillcam can get stuck in. So ask about that too.