 | Joseph P. Galichia, MD is the founder and Medical Director of the Galichia Medical Group, PA. He is an internationally recognized pioneer in the field of interventional cardiology. In the 70's, Dr. Galichia studied in Zurich, Switzerland with the inventors of the balloon angioplasty technique for treating heart disease. As a result of his experience, he was able to bring this historic technique back to the United States where he was one of the first physicians to perform coronary angioplasty here. A noted medical spokesman, he appears on a weekly Newstalk segment on KWCH Channel 12 and has a weekly syndicated radio talk show on KNSS 1330 AM every Saturday live from 11:00 am to noon. Dr. Galichia may be contacted by sending an e-mail to service@galichia.com |
Health & Medicine
2005-06-01 11:06:00
What is ‘capsule endoscopy’?
: What is ‘capsule endoscopy’ and may this be used instead of looking in my stomach with a tube?
ANSWER: It is now possible to evaluate the esophagus, stomach and the small bowel by simply swallowing a capsule. The capsule is about the size of a large vitamin pill and contains an imaging system which provides images of the entire-gastro intestinal system to the physician. The recorder records these images for an excellent portrait of the lining of the esophagus, stomach and small bowel. After about 24 hours most people simply pass the capsule in their stool.This technology is felt to be a real breakthrough mainly because it allows us to look at an area of the gastro-intestinal system that previously was difficult to visualize, that being the small bowel. Many patients have mysterious bleeding which occurs in some area of this part of the gastro-intestinal system. Also, of course being able to look at ulcers in the stomach, esophagus and the duodenum is an extremely important contribution of this technology. Unfortunately, it does not allow us to do a biopsy, but it certainly gives us a non-invasive, very simple, very comfortable look at a great deal of the anatomy of the human GI tract.This type of high technology is now available and something that we are using frequently. Certainly, there does not seem to be any risk involved in swallowing this capsule, there is no discomfort and the ability to make a diagnosis, multiple GI problems have been made easier by this system.We are also excited because this technology gives us the opportunity to follow the healing of an ulcer or perhaps an area of inflammation of the lining of the stomach that we know is not cancerous but may be healing slowly or may be getting worse. The comparison with scope technology will continue to favor the capsule simply because of the comfort of the patient. However, many endoscopies will continue to be done because of the necessity of making a tissue biopsy.
