Capsule camera has been stuck in my intestines for 65 days so far.

    by AJTSin

    41 Comments

    1. It seems like it’s probably far enough down that they could retrieve with a scope. I’m not a doctor but I work with insurance to authorize surgeries and you’d be surprised at how often something like this happens.

    2. Still_Silver_255 on

      “Sir we see you have an impacted bowel, we are going to have you swallow this camera. Then we will charge you for X-rays everyday until your impacted bowel resolves itself..” – US Medical System.

    3. thecosmicradiation on

      This has to be a little vindicating though, right? “See, I told you I have digestive issues!”

    4. My uncle had this happen. He took one, and it never passed. Turns out he had some type of narrowing in the junction point where the small and large intestines meet, and it evidently got stuck in some folds there.
      They tried a colonoscopy to get it out but were unable to. They then decided if it wasn’t causing him problems – and it apparently wasn’t – then just leave it, and maybe at some point it would pass on its own.
      As far as I know, it never did, and it stayed with him till his death.

    5. I’ve not personally seen one stuck for so long but in our practice my partner did have a case that went on for 2 months. At that point, as the patient was asymptomatic, we were only getting KUBs every week and one week it was gone. The patient did not spot the capsule in their feces. There was a patient who came to another of my partners for a second opinion who had a retained capsule for almost 2 years! He had no symptoms and continued observation was recommended.

      The company makes a dummy capsule that can be administered prior to capsule endoscopy if you suspect a stricture (prior surgery, Crohns, etc). That capsule is designed to dissolve after several days.

      If a capsule becomes impacted and the patient is symptomatic, retrieval via colonoscopy and ileoscopy can be attempted and is often successful if the point of impaction is sufficiently distal. In those cases, the capsule was most frequently found at the ileocecal valve without obvious pathology. Ileal structures, IBD, and strictures associated with Meckel’s diverticulum were also identified. For those patients without symptoms, observation without intervention is recommended.

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