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The Endoscopic Capsule is a system used in examining the small intestine. The patient swallows it with a small amount of water, just like a tablet. The capsule measures 25x11 mm and contains a camera. It moves through the digestive tract, pushed along by peristalsis, without causing any problems. As it moves along, it records images which are sent to a receiver worn on a belt by the patient. The images are recorded and analysed subsequently. The capsule is disposable, and the patient passes it through normal bowel motions. |
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As the capsule advances, it films images which are sent back to a receiver worn by the patient on a belt. The pictures are recorded to be analyzed later. The capsule is disposable and the patient eliminates it through bowel movements. It may be used both with hospitalized patients and out-patients over 10 years old.
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 The capsule is taken like a drug and advances through the intestine. |
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The Digestive Service at HOSPITEN Rambla has been using this modern technology since July, 2003. Although, in the USA, there are double chamber prototypes to study the esophagus, the capsule does not substitute the traditional digestive endoscope ? gastroscope and colonoscope ?as it is not designed to view the stomach or the colon, but, obviously, neither does the traditional endoscope substitute the capsule. This is a technique designed to view the small intestine, where traditional endoscopic techniques do not reach. It is also interesting to note that the US Food and Drug Administration recently established that the endoscopic capsule is the technique recommended in the diagnosis of pathologies affecting the small intestine. The capsule has yielded, after the analysis of 32 independent studies, a diagnostic results of 71%, while other intestinal tract techniques, enteroscopy, angiography, and intraoperative enteroscopy, have yielded a diagnostic results of only 41%. | |
| In Spain, at a Consensus Conference held in Marbella in June, 2003 at the National Congress of the Spanish Association for Digestive Pathology, use of the capsule was approved in the following cases: | |
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INDICATIONS 2. Ferropenic anaemia of suspected digestive origin and with normal gastroscopy and colonoscopy. 3. Examination of the extent of Crohn's Disease. 4. Examination of coeliac patients to check for any lymphomas, assess the condition, etc. 5. Examination of abdominal pain accompanied by chronic diarrhoea, in cases of suspected Crohn?s Disease and without verification or evidence of lesions in previous conventional examinations. 6. To evidence iatrogeny caused by AINES drugs, anovulation, etc., or chronic post-radiotherapy lesions 7. Examination of intestinal polyps (e.g. Peutz Jeghers syndrome) as an initial step in examination and treatment strategy. 8. Examination of poor absorption, especially where there may be a suspected tumour, such as primary intestinal lymphoma. 9. In searching for carcinoid intestinal tumours or other types of stromal tumour in patients showing early hepatic metastasis of the same and/or carcinoid syndrome. | |
HISTORY OF THE CAPSULE
The Endoscopic Capsule arose from the need to examine those areas of the digestive tract - principally the small intestine - that traditional endoscopic examinations (gastroscopy and colonoscopy) cannot access. In 1981, an Israeli engineer and an English gastroenterologist began working together until, by the end of the 1990s, the capsule became a reality and began to be used regularly in clinical practice. Thousands of examinations have been carried out using the capsule over the last three years throughout the world, with excellent results.
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Information:
Professionals:
Gastroenterology Unit