A novel cleansing score system for capsule endoscopy

AIM: To suggest a new cleansing score system for small bowel preparation and to evaluate its clinical efficacy. METHODS: Twenty capsule endoscopy cases were reviewed and small bowel preparation was assessed with the new scoring system. For the assessment, two visual parameters were used: proportion of visualized mucosa and degree of obscuration. Representative frames from small bowel images were serially selected and scored at 5-min intervals. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was obtained to assess the reliability of the new scoring system. For efficacy evaluation and validation, scores of our new scoring system were compared with another previously reported cleansing grading system. RESULTS: Concordance with the previous system, inter-observer agreement, and intra-patient agreement were excellent with ICC values of 0.82, 0.80, and 0.76, respectively. The intra-observer agreements at four-week intervals were also excellent. The cutoff value of adequate image quality was found to be 2.25. CONCLUSION: Our new scoring system is simple, efficient, and can be considered to be applicable in clinical practice and research. (C) 2010 Baishideng. All rights reserved.