Clinical utility of wireless capsule endoscopy: experience with 200 cases.

Goals: To evaluate the indications and diagnoses made with 200 small bowel capsule endoscopies in an academic medical center.

Background: Wireless capsule endoscopy (PillCam SB) has recently become available as a new tool in the evaluation of patients with small bowel diseases. Its impact on patient care and usefulness in clinical practice has steadily been gaining ground, yet there are few studies that evaluate large numbers of patients.

Current therapeutic recommendations: infliximab for ulcerative colitis.

Randomized, controlled studies have shown that infliximab, the chimeric anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) antibody, is effective for the treatment of active and fistulizing Crohn's disease. Because infliximab is beneficial in patients with Crohn's disease, in whom other therapies have failed, it has been postulated that infliximab may also be helpful in patients with ulcerative colitis. Many investigators have studied the effectiveness of infliximab in ulcerative colitis, mainly in patients who are refractory to corticosteroids.