Magnetically Controlled Capsule Endoscopy in Children: A Single Center, Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: Capsule endoscopy (CE) is a noninvasive diagnostic tool for the digestive tract. We aim to investigate the feasibility and safety of newly-developed magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy (MCE) in children.

METHODS: A total of 129 children who underwent MCE in Shanghai Children's Hospital were retrospectively recruited between March 2016 and August 2018. The feasibility, positive findings, and safety of MCE were evaluated and systematically analyzed.

RESULTS: Of all those children, 68 were boys, and 61 were girls with a mean age of 9.8 ± 1.9 years (6-14 years). The MCE procedure was feasible in all children. The mean esophageal transit time was 6.0 ± 4.6 seconds. The mean gastric examination time was 14.4 ± 3.9 minutes, and the average gastric transit time was 83.9 ± 59.1 minutes. Positive findings were detected in 82 children (82/129, 63.6%), 1 had esophageal lesions, 30 had superficial gastritis, 14 had superficial gastritis with bile reflux, 18 had nodular gastritis, 1 had ulcers and 2 had heterotopic pancreas. There were 5 patients who had duodenal bulbar ulcers. One had lymphatic follicle, 1 had celiac disease, 1 had blue rubber bleb nevus syndrome, and 2 polyps were detected in 16 patients who were examined the small bowel. No serious adverse event was reported during the MCE examination and follow-up, and all subjects excreted the capsules spontaneously within 2 weeks.

CONCLUSIONS: We showed that MCE is feasible and safe in children above 6 years. More studies are needed to further investigate the efficacy of MCE in children.