Milan, November 15th Over one hundred doctors took part in the Annual Video Capsule Endoscopic Meeting (RAVE) promoted by Medtronic in San Donato Milanese to discuss one of the most important non-invasive diagnostic tools for studying the digestive system.
“The endoscopic video capsule is a very effective clinical tool, studied in a clinical setting for about 20 years – Dr. Marco Pennazio of the university gastroenterology of the Città della Salute e della Scienza hospital in Turin told askanews – and we have consolidated evidence in the field of some pathologies of great social impact, such as gastrointestinal bleeding, Chron’s disease, refractory celiac disease or tumors of the small intestine.We are still in its infancy, but there are numerous studies that document how in the future we could use this diagnostic tool also by exploiting artificial intelligence that allows us to have a faster diagnosis”.
The endoscopic video capsule is disposable, ingestible and equipped with one or two cameras that acquire images of the intestine, providing doctors with crucial information, even for treating tumors. “We have rewritten the chapter on diseases of the small intestine by really seeing it – said Renato Cannizzaro, professor of Gastroenterology in Trieste and director of the Operational Structure of Oncological Gastroenterology in Aviano – not only on the operating table or in the gray tones of radiology. We have found some early cancers and the surgery was curative and saved the lives of our patients. The setting that the capsule gave us in evaluating the small intestine gave us an advantage in terms of survival”.
But the applications of the capsule also concern other pathologies. “In patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease – explained Carlo Calabrese, professor of Gastroenterology at the University of Bologna – it is particularly important, because it has allowed us to fully study the extent of the disease, especially in Chron’s disease, which mainly affects young people, but it can affect from the mouth to the anus, thus giving us information on how the mucosa is affected or not by the disease, and this in order to better address the various drugs that we have available”.
In Italy, however, despite this evidence, it is still underutilized, as there is no uniform legislation regulating its use. “There are regions that reimburse it where it is therefore used on an outpatient basis with a refund – added Cannizzaro – and there are regions that do not reimburse it, and therefore hospitalization is necessary. However, the capsule is part of the Essential Levels of Assistance (LEA ) and here I believe and hope that the regions will incorporate the possibility of making an outpatient capsule”.
The inclusion in the LEA, dated 2017, should allow for uniform pricing throughout the country, but to date this has not yet happened.