Small Bowel Examination with Video Capsule

Video capsule examination of the small bowel has been available for several years, but since July 2008 it has only been reimbursed by the INAMI/RIZIV at 75% (APPROXIMATELY €200 to be paid by the patient).

The day before the examination, the patient should:

• Follow a low-fiber diet, meaning no fruits or vegetables (neither cooked nor raw), and no whole wheat or brown bread. You may eat white bread, white pasta, meat, and dairy products.
• Drink a preparation: purchase a box of PLENVU from a pharmacy (available without a prescription). Around 5:00 PM, have your evening meal. Around 6:00 PM, start the PLENVU: take dose 1, mixed in ½ liter of water (to be drunk within 30 minutes); then drink another ½ liter of clear liquid of your choice.
• From midnight: remain fasting.

On the day of the examination:

• Remain fasting from midnight.
• Go to the 1st floor at the Endoscopy Unit, Route 306.
• If this is your first visit to ERASME Hospital, please first check in at the consultation reception in the hospital lobby.
• You will swallow the video capsule with a glass of water; the capsule is the size of a medicine capsule (water + 20 ml Endo-Paractol).
• A belt with a recording device will be fastened around your waist.
• You will stay in the rest area for 1 hour after swallowing the capsule to ensure it has reached your duodenum.
  If the capsule is still in the stomach, you will receive a 10 mg Motilium tablet.
• You may drink water 1 hour after ingesting the capsule, and then eat and drink normally 3 hours after ingestion.
• Around 4:30 PM, return to the Endoscopy Unit on the 1st floor (Route 306), where the belt with the recording device will be removed.
• The video capsule will be eliminated in the stool and does not need to be retrieved.
   

N.B.: Do not undergo an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) on the day of the examination or in the days following.

For any information or in case of cancellation, please contact the Endoscopy Clinic by phone at +32 (0)2 555.32.92