Study On The Effect of Tunicate Cellulose Nanocrystals in The Preparation of Sodium Alginate-Based Enteric Capsule

In this work, the tunicate cellulose nanocrystal (tCNC) was extracted from tunicate by bleaching and acid hydrolysis. It was used as filler in the preparation of sodium alginate-based enteric capsule. The addition of tCNC with high aspect ratio (65) rendered the enteric capsule excellent physical properties. Compared with the control sample, when the addition of tCNC was 10% (wt), the water contact angle of the capsule was enhanced by 46.0%, the opacity was increased by 356.8%, the maximum tensile stress was increased by 142.6%, the modulus of elasticity was increased by 240.3%, and the elongation at break was increased by 133.8%. In the in vitro degradation experiments, the capsule hardly degraded in the gastric environment (pH 1.2), while in the intestinal environment (pH 6.8), the degradation became slower with the increase of tCNC content, which was consistent with the properties of enteric capsule. This research developed a new direction for the application of tCNC in the pharmaceutical material productions.

A deep learning framework for autonomous detection and classification of Crohnʼs disease lesions in the small bowel and colon with capsule endoscopy

Background and study aims Small bowel ulcerations are efficiently detected with deep learning techniques, whereas the ability to diagnose Crohnʼs disease (CD) in the colon with it is unknown. This study examined the ability of a deep learning framework to detect CD lesions with pan-enteric capsule endoscopy (CE) and classify lesions of different severity. Patients and methods CEs from patients with suspected or known CD were included in the analysis. Two experienced gastroenterologists classified anonymized images into normal mucosa, non-ulcerated inflammation, aphthous ulceration, ulcer, or fissure/extensive ulceration. An automated framework incorporating multiple ResNet-50 architectures was trained. To improve its robustness and ability to characterize lesions, image processing methods focused on texture enhancement were employed. Results A total of 7744 images from 38 patients with CD were collected (small bowel 4972, colon 2772) of which 2748 contained at least one ulceration (small bowel 1857, colon 891). With a patient-dependent split of images for training, validation, and testing, ulcerations were diagnosed with a sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of 95.7 % (CI 93.4–97.4), 99.8 % (CI 99.2–100), and 98.4 % (CI 97.6–99.0), respectively. The diagnostic accuracy was 98.5 % (CI 97.5–99.2) for the small bowel and 98.1 % (CI 96.3–99.2) for the colon. Ulcerations of different severities were classified with substantial agreement (κ = 0.72). Conclusions Our proposed framework is in excellent agreement with the clinical standard, and diagnostic accuracies are equally high for the small bowel and colon. Deep learning approaches have a great potential to help clinicians detect, localize, and determine the severity of CD with pan-enteric CE.

P353 Pan-enteric capsule endoscopy enables assessment of mucosal healing after biologic treatment initiation in Crohn’s disease

Background Pan-enteric capsule endoscopy (pan-CE) visualizes the entire gastrointestinal tract and provides an attractive alternative to conventional ileocolonoscopy to evaluate luminal disease activity in Crohn’s disease (CD). An earlier study showed that pan-CE is feasible, safe and well tolerated by CD patients. The aim of the present study was to assess the Sensitivity TO measure Change (STOC) in mucosal disease activity using pan-CE in CD. Methods Patients with CD and active disease based on symptoms (i.e. Crohn’s disease activity index (CDAI) >150) and inflammatory biomarkers (i.e. C-reactive protein (CRP) >5 mg/L and/or fecal calprotectin (fCal) levels >250 mg/kg) underwent pan-CE, using the second-generation Pillcam colon capsule, prior to and 8-12 weeks after treatment initiation with infliximab, adalimumab or vedolizumab. Luminal disease activity was assessed using the Crohn’s disease endoscopic index of severity (CDEIS) and the simple endoscopic score for Crohn’s disease (SES-CD), expanded with two segments for the jejunum and pre-terminal ileum. Sensitivity to detect mucosal change was assumed if the standardized effect size was >0.8. Correlations between the evolution in CDAI, CRP and fCal with endoscopic activity scores before and after treatment initiation were calculated. Results Twenty-eight patients underwent pan-CE of whom two withdrew consent and four did not start biologic therapy. Twenty-two patients (78.6%) started biologic treatment and underwent pan-CE twice. Median duration between treatment initiation and pan-CE was 11 weeks (IQR: 9.8-12 weeks). Half of patients (11/22) were female and the median age was 24 years (IQR=22-38 years). The standardized effect size was 1.11 for CDEIS and 1.36 for SES-CD. Median CDEIS scores decreased from 6.8 (IQR=4.6-11.2) to 3 (IQR=0.9-6.0, p=0.01). Median SES-CD scores decreased from 15.5 (IQR=9.8-22.5) to 6 (IQR=2.8-11.3, p=0.001). SES-CD score per segment decreased significantly for colon segments, not for small bowel segments (figure 1). The difference in CDAI, CRP and fCal outcomes before and after treatment did not correlate with the change in CDEIS and SES-CD. Conclusion Pan-CE is useful to assess luminal disease activity in CD patients who embark on biological treatment. Pan-CE is sensitive to monitor mucosal healing outcomes and might therefore replace ileocolonoscopy for this indication in CD patients.

P177 Adherence to a bowel cleansing regimen for pan-enteric capsule endoscopy in patients with suspected Crohn’s disease and factors affecting the image quality

Background Pan-enteric capsule endoscopy (CE) is an attractive diagnostic approach in patients examined for Crohn’s disease (CD). The current bowel cleansing regimen was developed for patients with suspected gastrointestinal neoplasia (polyps). Since the majority of patients with CD have diarrhoea, a reduced volume of bowel preparation may be sufficient for cleansing the colon. The aim of this study was to examine the adherence to the recommended bowel cleansing regimen in patients with suspected CD examined with pan-enteric CE and determine clinical factors affecting the image quality. Methods Patients with clinically suspected CD were prospectively enrolled in a trial examining non-invasive modalities for diagnosing CD (http://ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT03134586). All patients had a standardized work-up including medical history, physical examination, blood and stool samples and pan-enteric CE. CE was performed with the PillCam™ Crohn’s capsule (Medtronic, Dublin, Ireland) after overnight fasting and bowel preparation with 2 + 2 litres of Polyethylene glycol (Moviprep®, PEG + ascorbic acid) and Sodium Phosphate booster as previously described by ESGE. Readers were blinded to the results of other examinations. The image quality was graded on a 4-point scale (poor, fair, good, excellent). A good or excellent image quality defined a diagnostic procedure. Results The volume of ingested PEG was recorded in 59 patients (Table 1). The mean volume was 2.5 L (CI 2.3–2.8). 10 patients (17%) were able to drink all 4 L of PEG, and 44 patients (75%) ingested > 2 L. The image quality was poor, fair, good or excellent in 0%, 29.3%, 29.3% and 41.4%, respectively. The mean volume of PEG was 1.9 L (CI 1.4–2.4), 2.2 L (CI 1.8–2.7) and 3.2 L (CI 2.8–3.5) in patients with a fair, good or excellent image quality (P < 0,001, Figure 1). In a regression analysis including multiple clinical variables, only the volume of ingested PEG was associated with the obtained image quality (Spearman’s rho = 0.52; P < 0.001). Stool consistency, number of bowel movements, diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or the degree of inflammation did not affect the image quality. The diagnostic yield was equal in patients with a diagnostic or non-diagnostic image quality (44% and 44%, respectively). The capsule was excreted in 53 patients (90%), and the analysis was not able to determine factors affecting the completion rate. Conclusion In patients examined with pan-enteric CE for suspected CD, the ingested volume of PEG is the major factor affecting the image quality. However, only few patients are able to ingest the recommended volume. Future research should determine the optimal bowel cleansing regimen for patients examined for IBD.