Abstract
AIM: Colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) has been deployed in Scotland as an alternative to colonoscopy. The aim of this work was to report the outcomes of patients undergoing CCE in Scotland from the national CCE registry. METHOD: Patients undergoing CCE in NHS Scotland between 1 August 2020 and 1 August 2021 were included in this study. Symptomatic and surveillance patients were vetted to undergo CCE by clinicians in four NHS Scotland health boards. Patient data were collected prospectively by an eHealth system managing CCE referral and report sign off. CCE procedural data were collected by a managed service carrying out CCE procedures. Data from both sources were compiled in the national CCE registry managed by Public Health Scotland. RESULTS: One thousand and eighty‐seven patients were included in this study. The median age of patients was 60 years and 58.3% of patients were female. A haemoglobin(Hb) count was available for 657 (60.4%) patients and the mean value was 139 g/L. Faecal immunochemical test results were available for 762 (70.1%) patients, and of those with a test result 79.0% had a result ≥10 μgHb/g. The rates of complete test, adequate bowel preparation and successful test were 57.0%, 59.2% and 56.9%, respectively. Following CCE, no further test, colonoscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy or gastroscopy were required for 42.0%, 34.1%, 22.7% and 2.6% of patients, respectively. Two (0.2%) patients experienced capsule retention with obstruction. CONCLUSION: These are the first reported outcomes from the ScotCap registry; they demonstrate that CCE is a safe alternative to colonoscopy and a significant proportion of patients avoid colonoscopy when CCE is implemented nationally.