Tom
Savides, M.D., was frustrated when traditional endoscopies and
colonoscopies turned up normal in patients with
unexplained gastrointestinal bleeding. Endoscopes view the upper
GI tract,
and colonoscopes view the colon, but
neither can reach the middle 20-30 feet
of the small intestines, and X-rays do not detect small intestine
lesions.
Then, in early 2004, Savides, a
gastroenterologist with UCSD Healthcare, participated in a Pfizer-sponsored
study that allowed him to see
what was previously inaccessible using a new tool— literally,
a “camera pill.”
“
It’s a remarkable technology,” says Savides. “An
endoscope has been miniaturized into a tiny capsule camera the
patient swallows. For the next eight hours, as the pill travels
painlessly
through the small
intestines, it electronically conveys images to a little computer
the patient wears on
a belt. The next day we download over 50,000 images from the computer;
and
we can see the entire small intestines.”
Capsule endoscopy is about as high-tech and state-of-the-art
as it gets. Although the capsule measures just 11 mm by 30
mm it packs
a wireless video camera, battery, light source and radio transmitter
for sending the images to the small computer. Patients expel
the single-use capsule naturally; the body does not absorb
or digest
the components.
The capsule camera can detect bleeding intestinal ulcers, blood
vessels and even small tumors. This allows physicians to accurately
localize
the problem, and to use very precise surgery to cure the bleeding.
Significant as it is, Savides cautions
that the new technology is not for everyone. Patients with bleeding
first need to
undergo an
endoscopy and colonoscopy.
If the results from both tests come back normal, Savides
would then recommend the camera pill. 
— Jeffree Itrich 
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