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capsule endoscopy (VCE) can detect mucosal lesions in the intestine, especially in the small bowel.Our study aims to evaluate the applications of VCE for pediatric
gastrointestinal diseases.In this retrospective study, we included all patients who underwent VCE between December 2012 and December 2018. Clinical information and VCE data were analyzed.Among 828 patients, the completion rate was 99.6% (n = 825), with an average age of 10.2 ± 3.3 years old. A total of 459 VCE procedures showed abnormalities, and the overall diagnostic yield was 55.6%. The most common indications for VCE were
abdominal pain among 505 (61.2%) patients and
hematochezia (10.1%) among 83. Among the positive results of VCE, small bowel
ulcers accounted for the highest percentage (57.7%), of which 164 cases were diagnosed as
inflammatory bowel disease. For obscure gastrointestinal
bleeding, 12 cases were diagnosed as
Meckel's diverticulum. In terms of the small bowel transit time of VCE, compared with the negative group [288 (216.5, 390.3) min] and the
enteritis group [277 (192.5, 374.8) min], a longer transit time was needed in the small bowel
ulcer group [332.5 (240, 451.5) min, P < .01]. There were no correlations of positive VCE findings with
anemia, the white blood cell count, the
C-reactive protein level or the small bowel transit time according to Spearman rank analysis.VCE is relatively well tolerated and safe in children and has great value for the diagnosis and treatment of
abdominal pain, especially
inflammatory bowel disease and obscure gastrointestinal
bleeding.