13 January 2012
Doctors at Epsom Hospital are using a brand new technique to work out what’s wrong with patients who have problems with their digestive system: they get them to swallow a video camera!
The new video camera capsules are so small that some patients being treated in the endoscopy unit (where people’s digestive tracts are examined using miniscule cameras), may now be asked to swallow it, allowing our doctors and nurses to see what happens throughout digestion. It is designed so that the capsule, which costs £450, passes though the patient naturally, with no surgical procedures needed.
The new capsules mean that our clinicians can assess the whole of the digestive tract, including the small bowel – which was previously impossible to look at without operating on the patient at. This means that they can spot hard to find conditions faster than ever before.
Dr Pritash Patel, consultant gastroenterologist, said: "Sadly, conditions that affect your digestive health, such as Crohn’s disease (where the whole of the digestive tube from mouth to anus can become inflamed and very painful), can have a huge impact on the lives of our patients. Being able to diagnose these conditions quickly and without the use of surgery is incredibly important to our patients’ health, wellbeing and quality of life.
"Patients may have suffered for years before the cause of their pain is discovered, but with the help of these new cameras, which compliment our existing diagnostic tests, we are providing an invaluable service at Epsom Hospital."
