Capsule –Endoscopy: Mini-Camera Taken Orally

• Improved Diagnostics Of Small Intestine By Orally Taken Mini-Camera
• Survey of Advantages for Patients

A small capsule containing a mini-camera has been used at MKH for diagnostics of small intestine diseases since January 2003.This new method offers a whole range of advantages for both patients and physicians.

Bellyache? Diarrhoea? Loss of weight? Diseases of the small intestine have been hard to diagnose so far.

Several hundred thousand people in Germany suffer from organic diseases occuring in the small intestine, which is about five to seven meter long. This includes chronic diseases like (e.g. Crohn's disease), polyps, tumors or iron-deficiency anemia caused by an unlocated site of bleeding within the small intestine. Many patients suffering from small intestine disorders show non-specific symptoms like diarrhea, inexplicable abdominal pain and loss of weight before being diagnosed.

Conventional methods of examination of the small intestine allow only a small insight or show no sufficient rate for the localization of potential damages. According to this, diseases of the small intestine have often been overlooked or not been diagnosed in their whole dimension. The small intestine has been thought of as "gastro-enterologic no man's land".

Improved Diagnostics Of Small Intestine By Orally Taken Mini-Camera

Capsule-endoscopy is a modern method which is effective and comfortable for the patient. A mini-camera, enveloped in an orally taken capsule, continually transmits images on its way through the digestive tract for six to eight hours, thus providing an endoscopic inspection of the whole of the small intestine and a high localization rate for pathologic changes.

Survey Of Advantages For Patients

• Higher probability of a first or expanded diagnose by examination of the whole of the small intestine.
• Free from pain without sedation, no radiation exposure, freedom of movement during examination.
• No need for patient to cleanse the bowels.
• Clinical examination data saved on CD are handed to patient to provide his/her family physician with the examination results.

For more information please contact: Priv.-Doz. Dr. von Schönfeld.