key: cord-0759147-ca5pd9m1 authors: Nakaji, Konosuke title: Colon capsule endoscopy in patients with chronic respiratory disease during the Covid‐19 pandemic date: 2020-11-14 journal: Colorectal Dis DOI: 10.1111/codi.15443 sha: 66f10c09d4a603712285903bdd32e8cfc935511c doc_id: 759147 cord_uid: ca5pd9m1 We read with interest the article by MacLeod C et al [1]. The authors suggest that colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) could be a useful tool to triage emergency colonoscopy during the Covid‐19 pandemic. The literature for CCE in patients with chronic respiratory disease, which is one of COVID‐19 high‐risk groups [2], is limited. We carried out a retrospective study of CCE in patients with chronic respiratory disease up to May 2020, the first wave of COVID‐19 pandemic in Japan. We read with interest the article by MacLeod C et al [1] . The authors suggest that colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) could be a useful tool to triage emergency colonoscopy during the Covid-19 pandemic. The literature for CCE in patients with chronic respiratory disease, which is one of COVID-19 high-risk groups [2] , is limited. We carried out a retrospective study of CCE in patients with chronic respiratory disease up to May 2020, the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. Thirty-one patients (18 males and 13 females with a mean age of 65.2 ± 15.1 years) with chronic respiratory disease who underwent CCE at our hospital were included. The diagnoses of these patients were pulmonary emphysema in 7 patients, bronchial asthma in 7 patients, chronic [3] and positron emission tomography [4] as an alternative method during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, CCE is free from radiation exposure and the only examination that can be performed at home without coming to the hospital during the COVD-19 pandemic. CCE is expensive, it costs approximately ￥30,000 to the national health insurance adaptation of Japan at a 30% burden. However, it can be easily inferred that in patients with chronic respiratory disease it is more cost-effective than the medical cost of ventilators and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in intensive care units when they become This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved seriously ill with SARS-COV-2 infection. Also, in Japan, CCE was adopted by the national health insurance plan for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease from March 2020. Our study results suggest that CCE in patients with chronic respiratory disease avoids unnecessary CS and may reduce the risk of SARS-COV-2 infection by CS in approximately 60% of the patients. None. I declare no conflict of interests. This study was approved by the ethics committee. All patients consented to data collection, analysis and dissemination. Colon capsule endoscopy: an innovative method for detecting colorectal pathology during the COVID-19 pandemic? COVID-19 and COPD COVID-19 recovery: tackling the 2-week wait colorectal pathway backlog by optimising CT colonography utilisation Positron Emission Tomography With Fluorodeoxyglucose Incidental Detection of Colon Cancer in a Patient's Follow-Up for Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Case Report None.