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"This camera cannot see everything, but it's
better than anything else we have available."
-- David Ramkumar, M.D.
Picture this:
Your doctor needs to examine the middle portion of your
digestive tract. Conventional technology using long flexible
tubes won't quite do the trick.
Instead, your doctor hands you a pill the size of a
multivitamin. The pill has a tiny camera inside. You swallow
the pill with water and put a recorder belt on your waist.
Eight hours later, you return the recorder belt to your
doctor, who gives it to specialists who look for
abnormalities by reviewing a video created from the camera's
images.
Sound too good to be true? Not any more. This year,
digestive disorders specialists at University of Iowa
Hospitals and Clinics expect to use the endoscopic
capsule--a 'camera in a pill'--to help more than 150
patients.
The endoscopic capsule comes at a time when physicians
typically insert flexible tubes that contain cameras to
examine portions of a patient's digestive tract. However,
endoscopes can only examine the upper portions of the
digestive system, while colonoscopes study the lower
portion, or colon.
That leaves about 20 feet of the small intestine that
cannot be effectively viewed with standard tests.
"The endoscopic capsule helps fill that gap," said David
Ramkumar, M.D., a gastroenterologist at UI Hospitals and
Clinics. "It provides a view of that middle portion of the
digestive tract that we have not had previously."
The camera pill provides a non-invasive diagnostic option
for patients with disorders such as unexplained bleeding,
Crohn's disease, Celiac disease and intestinal tumors.
Specialists review video created from these high-quality
images for any abnormalities. The device detects
abnormalities appropriately in 60 to 70 percent of cases, a
diagnostic yield that is superior to all other conventional
tests combined.
The FDA approved the camera pill in 2001 for patients
with unexplained bleeding that cannot be pinpointed by other
means. UI Hospitals and Clinics specialists charge $1,200 to
conduct an imaging study using the technology for patients
referred by a physician. Insurance typically covers a
significant portion of the bill for the test.
The camera-in-a-pill is a not a replacement for
colonoscopy.
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