Pan-enteric Capsule Endoscopy to Characterize Crohn's Disease Phenotypes and Predict Clinical Outcomes in Children and Adults: The Bomiro Study.

BACKGROUND: Pan-enteric capsule endoscopy (PCE) provides useful information for the management of Crohn's disease (CD), especially in children. No study has evaluated the ability of PCE to characterize CD phenotypes and outcomes in children and adults.

METHODS: In a prospective multicenter observational study, we recruited patients with CD >6 years from 4 centers in Italy. Patients underwent clinical, biomarker assessment and PCE. Lesions were graded using the PCE system. For each segment, the most common lesion (MCL), the most severe lesion (MSL), and the extent of involvement were defined. Disease severity, extent, and clinical outcomes were compared between children and adults. A logistic regression analysis was used to identify predictive factors for negative outcomes in both age groups.

RESULTS: One hundred ninety-four consecutive patients (adults/children: 144/50) were evaluated for a total of 249 procedures. Children were more likely to have extensive disease, particularly in the colon. Higher MCL scores were independently associated with treatment escalation (odds ratio [OR], 4.09; 95% CI, 1.80-9.25; P = .001), while >30% disease extent was more indicative of clinical and endoscopic relapse (OR, 2.98; 1.26-7.08; P = .013). Disease extent was the only factor associated with endoscopic recurrence in children (OR, 4.50; 95% CI, 1.47-13.77; P = .008), while severe lesions in adults provided a better predictor of treatment escalation (OR, 4.31; 95% CI, 1.52-12.1; P = .006). Postexamination, PCE contributed to a change of therapy in 196/249 (79%) of the procedures.

CONCLUSIONS: PCE allowed the characterization of CD phenotypes in children and adults by assessing disease severity and extent, which are of different importance in predicting clinical outcomes in these age groups.