PROCEDURES - Capsule Endoscopy

The small intestine is a difficult area to examine with standard endoscopy or colonoscopy. While the beginning part of the small intestine, the duodenum, is easily seen on an upper endoscopy (also called an EGD) and the last part of the small intestine, the terminal ileum, can been seen during a colonoscopy, the rest of the small intestine is not visualized during those procedures. Because of this, additional testing is sometimes necessary.

Capsule Endoscopy, first approved by the FDA in 2001, is the diagnostic test of choice for looking at the entire small bowel. The capsule is small - about half an inch wide and an inch long, and contains a tiny camera. Once ingested, this camera takes two pictures per second for a total of eight hours (that's over 57000 pictures!) as it travels through the GI tract. The capsule also contains a radio transmitter - this transmits the pictures wirelessly to a recording device you will wear on your belt.