Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Thu May 26, 2011 1:52 pm

Has anyonme here had Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (a.k.a. Cellvizio) done during colonoscopy or endoscopy? It seemed to be a burgeouning discovery early last decade, with the ability to visualize and identify bacteria in the colon. This would help answer questions for many MCers who suspect bacterial issues. Certainly the UC and Crohn's community think their diseases are caused by the body attacking bacteria in the digestive tract. COuld our food sensitivities merely be a byproduct of this internal battle, but not an actual cause for our MC? If I can find a GI in the DC area that uses this equipment, I may sign up for a colonoscopy earlier than 8 years!

Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy for Live Visualization of GI Bacteria

http://medgadget.com/2010/12/confocal_l ... teria.html

Results: Confocal endomicroscopy was able to identify intramucosal pEGFP E coli in mice and strains of enteric microflora in the mucosa of humans. Using FISH as the gold standard, evaluation of 21 patients showed that CLE had a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 100% to identify intramucosal bacteria. In a retrospective study, 113 patients with CD and UC had intramucosal bacteria significantly more often than 50 control patients (66% vs 60% vs 14%, p<0.001). This result was confirmed in a prospective study in which 10 patients with CD and 10 with UC had a significantly wider distribution of involvement with intramucosal bacteria in the colon and terminal ileum compared with 10 controls (85.2% vs 75.9% vs 16.8%, p<0.0001).

There is one doc in central Virginia doing it:
http://www.newswise.com/articles/uva-ph ... -technique

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Thu May 26, 2011 2:56 pm

This is super-interesting. I don't think there's anything 'mere' about food sensitivities, though.

I think human beings never evolved the ability to eat gluten as a primary dietary source. Some of us have a lousier chance than others at making it work. All (or most) of us should be able to make the choice between "eat gluten" and "starve to death" successful. Partly because that's not how grains work in our society (yes, and also genetics, and 'luck' of the pathogen/Rx draw), some of us (most here) have 'broken' that ability to grab a bagel in an emergency.

There, I said it.

I still think this is super interesting, and see why you'd consider going for it ;)

L,
S