Pill Cam

Hi,

Haven't posted for a while but I really need some advice from those of you who have had a pill cam. My son is now 19 and doing well, other than having two episodes a few weeks apart of bleeding. His crohn's has not really being bothering him. Only 2- 3 bowel movements a day the first of the day always formed but others after that can be loose.

GI Doc ordered an MRI to evaluate small bowel inflammation. The findings were that within the pelvis there are multiple thickened contrast enhancing loops of distal small bowel prior to the patient's ileocolic anastomosis. The doctor now wants to have him take a pill cam to get a better look at the area as they were unable to see this area during a colonlscopy,and she will get better pics than the images from MRI.

Of course he is not happy with this as he is so worried that the pill cam will get stuck he is planning to start college in a few weeks. We are meeting with the Doc on Friday to discuss and for him to take a trial pill that will dissolve if it gets stuck. Then if that goes okay he will get the real pill cam.

He is feeling well enough now and his crohn's is not getting in the way of him living his life just like all 19 year old kids do. I guess my question is does he really need a pill cam? Any other suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

In general I'd say the pill cam is used more for diagnosis than for follow-up studies.

I too would be a little concerned about giving the pill cam to somebody who has had a resection and has some evidence on MRI of narrowing due to wall thickening (however minor the narrowing may be).

Ask the doc this: Why are better pics of the area necessary? What will it change in terms of treating your son? You already know he has Crohn's and you already know from the MRI that there is activity still in the small bowel. How will getting better pics change anything? It will cost a lot of $$ (to you and/or the insurance) but it won't/shouldn't change a treatment plan, so I don't really see the point of it.

By the way, what is the current treatment regimen for your son?

There is a fake pill cam you can take that will simply resolve if it gets stuck. Do this first and you will know for sure if you will have issues. I have had two pill cams and the pictures are amazingly clear
Healing thoughts
Dave

Gumby

My son has had a resection it will be three years in October. He had a colonoscopy in December and the Doc said that they were able to get through the anastomosis no problem but after that they could go no further. There is a loop of bowel in that area too which caused him to be hospitalized in 2013 with an obstruction due to intussusception. He almost needed a resection then as well but it popped out just as they were preparing to take him to surgery.

Anyway he is flat out refusing to take the fake pill cam he is so terrified that even if that passes through that the real one won't. He wants to start college 2 weeks from today. I have a call into the Doc and hopefully she can come up with an alternative for him.

I am definitely going to ask all the questions you guys suggested
Thanks.

Post Edited (Dingleeire) : 8/19/2014 11:02:25 AM (GMT-6)