Efficacy of computed image modification of capsule endoscopy in patients with obscure gastrointestinal bleeding

AIM: To investigate whether flexible spectral color enhancement (FICE) improves diagnostic yields of capsule endoscopy (CE) for obscure gastro-intestinal bleeding (OGIB). METHODS: The study subjects consisted of 81 patients. Using FICE, there were three different sets with different wavelengths. Using randomly selected sets of FICE, images of CE were evaluated again by two individuals who were not shown the conventional CE reports and findings. The difference between FICE and conventional imaging was examined. RESULTS: The overall diagnostic yields in FICE sets 1, 2, 3 and conventional imaging (48.1%) were 51.9%, 40.7%, 51.9% and 48.1%, respectively, which showed no statistical difference compared to conventional imaging. The total numbers of detected lesions per examination in FICE imaging and conventional imaging were 2.5 ± 2.1 and 1.8 ± 1.7, respectively, which showed a significant difference (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: The diagnostic yield for OGIB is not improved by FICE. However, FICE can detect significantly more small bowel lesions compared to conventional imaging.