FIRST THIRTY PATIENTS GIVEN CAPSULE ENDOSCOPY
The Small Intestine - Uncharted Territory
What if a patient had severe iron deficiency anemia and scope tests of the stomach and colon are normal? It is not uncommon for doctors to evaluate a patient with unexplained anemia and neither gastroscopy nor colonoscopy scope examinations reveal the diagnosis. By a process of elimination, it then becomes likely that the source of bleeding lies somewhere in-between - below the reach of the gastroscope and above the reach of the colonoscope - in the 20 feet of small intestine. How then is this area examined?
The Given Video Capsule - Hope For the Future
In 1981, an Israeli physician, Dr. Gavriel Iddan, began development of a video camera that would fit inside a pill. Technology was not ready and the idea was put on hold. It took 20 years for technology to catch up with Dr. Iddan. In 2001, the FDA approved the Given Diagnostic Imaging System. This may sound like science fiction, but this 11 x 26 mm capsule weighs only 4 gms (about 1/7th of an ounce) and contains a color video camera and wireless radiofrequency transmitter, 4 LED lights, and enough battery power to take 50,000 color images during an 8-hour journey through the digestive tract. About the size of a large vitamin, the capsule is made of specially sealed biocompatible material that is resistant to stomach acid and powerful digestive enzymes. Another name for this new technique is Wireless Capsule Endoscopy.
What if a patient had severe iron deficiency anemia and scope tests of the stomach and colon are normal? It is not uncommon for doctors to evaluate a patient with unexplained anemia and neither gastroscopy nor colonoscopy scope examinations reveal the diagnosis. By a process of elimination, it then becomes likely that the source of bleeding lies somewhere in-between - below the reach of the gastroscope and above the reach of the colonoscope - in the 20 feet of small intestine. How then is this area examined?
The Given Video Capsule - Hope For the Future
In 1981, an Israeli physician, Dr. Gavriel Iddan, began development of a video camera that would fit inside a pill. Technology was not ready and the idea was put on hold. It took 20 years for technology to catch up with Dr. Iddan. In 2001, the FDA approved the Given Diagnostic Imaging System. This may sound like science fiction, but this 11 x 26 mm capsule weighs only 4 gms (about 1/7th of an ounce) and contains a color video camera and wireless radiofrequency transmitter, 4 LED lights, and enough battery power to take 50,000 color images during an 8-hour journey through the digestive tract. About the size of a large vitamin, the capsule is made of specially sealed biocompatible material that is resistant to stomach acid and powerful digestive enzymes. Another name for this new technique is Wireless Capsule Endoscopy.
