Study of Capsule Endoscopy to Determine the Accuracy for Detection of Esophageal Varices

Inclusion criteria

• Age at least 18 years and less than 86 years at the time of consent.
• Clinically evident or biopsy proven cirrhosis.
• No previous documented UGI bleeding due to peptic ulcers, varices, portal hypertensive gastropathy, angiomas, or watermelon stomach.
• No previous endoscopic, radiological or surgical treatment for variceal bleeding or ascites.
• Probable life expectancy of at least 24 months without liver transplantation, as judged by the hepatologist and endoscopist-investigators, and have a Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score ≤ 29.
• Signed a written informed consent.

Exclusion criteria

• Prior variceal bleeding- esophageal, gastric, or other site.
• Prior endoscopic (e.g. sclerotherapy, ligation, or combination therapy), radiological (e.g. transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt-TIPS) or surgical (e.g. portocaval or splenorenal shunt) treatment of esophagogastric varices or ascites.
• Patient who was uncooperative or unable to give written consent.
• Severe co-morbid illness, e.g. end stage chronic renal disease (e.g. dialysis dependence, creatinine greater than 2 times normal) or respiratory failure (e.g. ventilator dependent, oxygen dependent, unstable asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease- e.g. 2 or more hospitalizations for exacerbation in 1 year, asthma or obstructive pulmonary disease which required daily bronchodilators and/or oral/inhaled steroids), tense ascites requiring repeated therapeutic paracenteses, severe hepatic encephalopathy, peritonitis, or sepsis.
• Active cancer with less than a 24 month expected survival and/or cancer on active treatment with chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy.
• Esophageal motility disorder, esophageal stricture or esophageal diverticulum, causing dysphagia or requiring dilatation.
• GI obstruction or partial obstruction (by history or imaging), symptomatic GI stricture or pseudo-obstruction which may prevent passage of the capsule.
• Patients with potentially reversible portal hypertension such as alcoholic hepatitis, acute viral hepatitis, untreated autoimmune hepatitis, or chronic hepatitis B or C on viral therapy.