So called ‘smart pills’ are going places doctors could barely access. By using a capsule endoscopy they can keep patients from undergoing intensive tests and still get the info they need.
“What we use is a small capsule that has a small camera on the end of it and it also has a flash on it. And so every two seconds this camera will flash and take a picture, will flash and take a picture,” explains gastroenterologist Dr. Michael Bays. He is on medical staff of Lee Memorial Health System.
About the size of a dime, the tiny pill cam is relatively easy to swallow. It’s taken under medical supervision.
Medical assistant Nicole Findley helps patients with the procedure.
“They swallow the capsule and by that time everything is already hooked up and ready to go. They’re given instructions of what to look out for for the rest of the day,” says Findley.
It is only the beginning of this fantastic voyage through the digestive system. By the time the pill passes it snaps on average 57,000 images. Ideal for tight spaces, it gives doctors a good look at the small intestine.
“There’s a lot of things that can go on in that part of the intestine that we can’t see with our endoscopes,” says Dr. Bays. “Prior to this we had one of two options really. One is some sort of an x-ray and that would be a CT scan and or a barium enema.”
The pill cam is used to track the source of mystery bleeding - when doctors know there is a problem in the intestinal tract but can’t find it, or if they suspect Crohn’s disease. The answers they need are captured on an external recorder.
“This first one is our eight-lead sensory belt. Once it’s connected to the patient, it connects to the recorder. And they go on with their day,” says Findley.
The pill eventually passes through the body and is flushed away. The recorder is removed and the images downloaded.
“We plug it into our computer and it will download all of the images and we can see these photographs that this thing has taken through the small bowel,” Dr. Bays says.
Earlier this year the FDA approved a capsule with two cameras to screen the colon. Widening the scope of these smart pills.
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