An 84-year-old man sought medical attention due to fever and ileal wall thickening, for which capsule endoscopy was performed. Capsule administration and exam were uneventful. The patient stated he had no discomfort but did not expel the capsule through a bowel movement (figs. 1 a and b). Hours later, he began to cough and 10hours after the procedure he spontaneously expectorated the video capsule (figs. 1c and d). The images were reviewed, confirming the aspiration of the capsule when it was administered. A new video capsule was endoscopically placed in the duodenum, with no further complications.
Capsule endoscopy aspiration is a rare complication. The largest case series conducted on the topic reports a frequency of 0.003%, occurring mainly in elderly, fragile patients with swallowing disorders. In general, respiratory symptoms present immediately. There are few reports of cases of asymptomatic aspiration of the capsule endoscopy camera and only one report in which the duration was longer than the 10h in our case.
Ethical disclosuresProtection of human and animal subjects.The authors declare that the procedures followed were in accordance with the regulations of the relevant clinical research ethics committee and with those of the Code of Ethics of the World Medical Association (Declaration of Helsinki).
Confidentiality of data.The authors declare that no patient data appear in this article.
Right to privacy and informed consent.The authors declare that no patient data appear in this article.
Financial disclosureNo financial support was received in relation to this article.
Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Please cite this article as: Keil-Ríos D, Angulo-Molina D, Farca-Belsaguy A. Broncoaspiración asintomática de cápsula endoscópica por 10 horas. Revista de Gastroenterología de México. 2018;83:451–452.