KTVT CBS 11 Health Alert
Dr. Lewis Pincus
Taping Script, Wed. May 23, 2001

Wireless Intestinal Camera

Anchor: Once again, what seemed like science fiction when we were kids has now become reality in the field of capturing pictures , remotely, from deep inside the body. To explain more about the newest “Fantastic Voyage” is CBS medical expert and tour guide Dr. Lew Pincus.

Doctor: A 70 yr. Old patient comes to my office complaining of fatigue, weakness, light headedness and loss of appetite. A physical examination shows that he looks a little pale, his heart rate is just a little bit fast. His lungs are clear, his abdomen is soft, not tender, and I can’t feel any mass or tumor. A check of his stool shows blood, and his blood count is low. This gentleman is bleeding somewhere in his digesitve tract, and now we have to find it.

In 2001 this patient will have endoscopy, the looking inside of the digestive tube in two ways. The upper scoping will examine the esophagus, stomach and first few inches of the 25 feet or so of the small intestine. Don’t see anything there? Well, let’s go the other way with a colonoscope, viewing the entire large intestine. Still no bleeding source in sight, if the bleeding continues, we may be forced to surgery to explore the unseen small intestine.

In 2002, with expected FDA approval of the new wireless endoscopy capsule developed by an Israeli technology firm Given Imaging (www.givenimaging.com), the patient will be able to swallow, almost effortlessly, a grape sized disposable transmitter which will travel through the entire small and large intestine, before being eliminated from the body.

The device is moved along the digestive system by the same rhythmic muscular activity that moves food along, peristalsis. The transmitter is small enough to swallow easily, and large enough so that it does not tumble over and over through the digestive tube.

The little camera works for about 8 hrs.. About 1 hour is spent in the stomach, 2 or 3 hrs in the small intestine, and the rest of the time occurs in the colon, or large intestine. In a recently completed study on patients with suspected small intestinal bleeding, 55% of patients had their bleeding source precisely identified, compared with only 30% of patients using much more uncomfortable and less reliable traditional scopings.

I remember as a kid watching “The Fantastic Voyage” a sci fi movie about a journey through the body by a heroic group of micro sized scientists who explored the body. And here we are, using miniaturized technology to help patients with more accuracy and no pain, so everybody is happy. 

For CBS Health Alert, I’m Dr. Lew Pincus. And back to you.
 

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