These summaries were prepared by Dr Felicity Goodyear-Smith, Goodfellow Unit, Department
of General Practice & Primary Health Care, University of Auckland. Thanks for
the material provided by Ms Sarah Marshall, Charge Nurse Manager, Department of
Gastroenterology & Hepatology, A+, Auckland.
Future developments: capsular endoscopy
Future developments: capsular endoscopy
In the future fibreoptic endoscopy may be replaced by capsular endoscopy. This technology
is being developed in the UK. A video-camera inside a capsule is swallowed by the
patient and radios images of the lining of the bowel to a portable recorder strapped
to the patient's waist. The 'capsule endoscope' measures 11mm by 30mm and contains
a tiny video camera, light source and transmitter. The capsule is forced through
the intestinal tract by peristalsis and eventually expelled after about 24 hours.
The belt with its receiver is sent into the hospital clinic where it is plugged
into a computer enabling a gastroenterologist to examine the images. The capsule
provides up to six hours of high quality images from the stomach, small bowel and
the first section of the large intestine. To date the devices have been tested
on volunteers but full clinical trials are not yet complete. The advantages
of capsular endoscopy include considerable patient convenience and comfort. The
device is painless and the patient avoids the discomfort of the insertion, the sedation
and the hospital stay associated with fibreoptic endoscopy. Once the device has
been swallowed, patients can go about their normal daily activities and do not need
to take time off work. Disadvantages: The capsular endoscope currently produces images of the upper bowel but should be able to be developed to also investigate
the lower bowel. It is not possible to navigate the device up or down the bowel;
nor is possible to take biopsy material using this device. Once these refinements
and add-on technologies are available, the endoscopy capsule may well become a 'core'
device in diagnostic medicine.
Links to further information on the capsule endoscope
The company, Given Images, which is joint developer of the capsule has a couple
pages of information.
The original article in Nature is available
at the link below, however you may not
be able to access the article unless you are a subscriber to on-line Nature. (The
article in Nature has a Quicktime movie and a Powerpoint slide show available through
a link called "Supplementary Information").
