Capsule endoscopy

Capsule endoscopy is indicated to look for bleeding in hidden areas in the small  bowel. It is also useful for tracking small bowel tumours and obscure abdominal pain.

The small bowel is located between the stomach and the large bowel. This can be affected in a number of conditions but because the normal endoscopes cannot reach it can be sometimes very hard to diagnose problems with small bowel. The stomach is reached by the endoscopy, the large bowel is reached by the colonoscope but we need the capsule endoscopy to reach the small bowel.

The procedure involves  coming in the morning for 5 min to swallow the camera and returning in the afternoon at 5 pm to drop off the recorder. The capsule is very small and it is  swallowed  easily. The capsule  travels, just like a piece of food, through the small bowel and takes millions of pictures. A small computer attached to a belt track the progress of the capsule as it makes its way through the gastrointestinal system.