Pill Cam Test - Possible Stricture

[MCPayne]

Hi everyone.

I'm thinking a pill cam test might be next for me, however, I'm a little nervous about that. Basically, starting around late September this year, here's what happened.

I had a colonoscopy done in late September, and it revealed a stricture, which the GI couldn't get the scope around, even with a small scope that he normally used for an upper endoscopy, which is a smaller scope than a scope for a colonoscopy. Based on that, he ordered a Barium Enema test.

I had the Barium Enema test done a couple weeks ago, and I'm hoping to get in touch with my doctor next week by phone to hear what he has to say. However, in doing that test, the radiologist kept saying he couldn't see the stricture as he was taking the pictures. In the colonoscopy, the stricture was after the rectum, and in between that first hard right turn and the first hard left turn if you're looking at the diagram of the colon, from the rectum going up. I'm not a radiologist, so I don't know how the stricture would look on an x-ray, provided it even shows up on an x-ray. Would a stricture even show up on an x-ray?

Those of you that have had the pill cam test, did you have it knowing you had a stricture? Not to sound gross, but I'm having bowel movements, so I'm pretty sure it's not a significant blockage, but am wondering if there's enough obstruction there to prevent doing the pill cam test.

I did have a small bowel follow through, to which the radiologist said that everything looked normal. This was back in mid-September, right before the colonoscopy. I had that test because my GI wanted to make sure that everything was all right before we did the pill cam test. I have not yet done the pill cam test, as I still have to see if that's a possibility.

 

[Crohn's 35]

Most times the barium enema test do show, I know for the small bowel follow through you can see it clear as day. Good idea that your doc is making sure a pill cam is advisable, because if a colonoscopy doesn't allow passage, I would be worried of having a pill cam,on this forum a few have had them get stuck. Let us know what happens.

 

[MCPayne]

Thanks, Pen. That's my main concern. What's odd though, to my knowledge, is that the apparent stricture only appeared in the colonoscopy, not in the Small Bowel Follow Through or the barium enema. I'm wondering if I just wasn't cleaned out, but find that hard to believe.

 

[scoutfinch]

If I'm not mistaken, a the small bowel follow through procedure only tracks through the small intestine. Since your stricture is in the colon, the SB procedure wouldn't go that far.

I'm not familiar with a barium enema, but if it's the same type of procedure as an SB but for the colon, then I would imagine the x-rays would pick up on the stricture.

Are there such things as temporary strictures?

 

[MCPayne]

Not sure if there's such a thing as temporary strictures. However, I'm wondering if I scheduled the colonoscopy too close to the small bowel follow thorough, and the possible stricture was the barium. I also didn't realize they said to stop taking iron 5 days before the procedure. The last time I took my iron was I think on Sunday, with the small bowel series that following Monday, then the colonoscopy on Wednesday of the following week.

That being said, I stopped taking iron 2 or 3 days before the procedure, and not the full 5. I'm hoping to get in touch with my doctor next week. I had my normal blood work done today (because I'm on 6MP), and my doctor usually calls me the following week to go over the results of that. If he does, I'll ask him about the Barium Enema test.

 

[shamrock15]

I had the joy of having the pill cam stuck in pretty much the exact spot you are referring to. It ended up acting sort of like a flapper valve - it would let a little stuff pass, but retained most of it even though I was passing mostly fluid. If it is early inflammation, it is possible it can be reduced a little. It can also be treated with a balloon dilatation. I don't think I would let them repeat the procedure on me without being able to confirm the capsule had passed. A week in hospital with an avoidable obstruction and two more scopes isn't a fun way to end the procedure.