Swallow Camera Vs Endoscopy

Capsule endoscopy (also known as wireless capsule endoscopy) is a diagnostic test that involves swallowing a pill-sized camera to take pictures inside the small intestine. The images are sent to a recording device that you wear on a belt around your waist.

You must follow special instructions to prepare for a capsule endoscopy. These might include taking a laxative and following dietary guidelines.

What is a swallow camera?

A swallow camera is a wireless camera that can be swallowed to allow doctors to see the inside of the digestive tract. A doctor can use the pictures to detect issues, such as Crohn’s disease, which can be difficult to diagnose with traditional endoscopy procedures.

In an endoscopy, a thin flexible tube with a lighted camera on the end of it is inserted into a natural opening like your mouth or nose. Different types of swallow camera vs endoscopy endoscopies can examine certain body regions, including the gut (esophagogastroduodenoscopy or EGD), lungs and chest (bronchoscopy), and joints.

You may have to take medication before the test, and you’ll lie on an exam table, with a bite block or mouth guard placed in your mouth. You will be sprayed with numbing medicine before the tube is inserted, and you’ll most likely be given an IV for sedation or general anesthesia.

During the procedure, you can’t feel the scope or the camera at all. A doctor might be able to use the information captured by the pill-sized video camera to identify a condition, such as Crohn’s disease, that’s difficult to diagnose with other types of endoscopy or MRI scans. The images can also help a doctor remove polyps, stop bleeding from ulcers or other conditions, fix blocked arteries or widen narrow ones, or insert a feeding tube or drainage tube.

What is a tube endoscopy?

In a tube endoscopy, doctors use an endoscope — a thin tube with a light and camera on the tip — to look inside your esophagus (gullet), stomach and duodenum, which is the first part of your small intestine. This test is used to find out what is causing your symptoms and to diagnose diseases of the upper digestive tract, such as bleeding and tumors. It is also used to treat problems such as a blockage in your throat or esophagus. For most endoscopies, you are sedated before the procedure starts. This lets you relax and stay calm while the doctor uses the scope to look around your digestive tract.

Before your test, you may be asked to drink laxatives or enemas to empty your digestive tract. You also might have to fast for eight hours before the procedure. The day of your procedure, you’ll need to swallow a capsule that has a camera in it and a recorder attached to it. The device is about the size of a large vitamin pill and can record thousands of color pictures as it goes through your digestive tract.

It takes a week or two to get results from the capsule endoscopy test. During that time, you can still eat and take medicine as usual, but you must avoid strenuous activity as the device records. Once the results are available, you can remove the recording device and patches from your body and flush them down the toilet.

What is a capsule endoscopy?

A capsule endoscopy lets your doctor examine the lining of the middle part of your digestive tract. It’s done by swallowing a pill-sized video camera with its own light source and battery. The camera sends pictures to a recording device that you wear on your waist.

The test is safe and effective. It can help doctors find the cause of stomach and small intestine bleeding, look for tumors or other abnormalities in the GI tract, check for Crohn’s disease or ulcers, and see what’s going on with people who have a condition that causes a narrowing (stricture) of the bowel. It can also help diagnose celiac disease, a reaction to eating gluten that affects the small intestine.

A member of your health care team will review the thousands of color images the capsule takes as it travels through your digestive tract. The images are compiled into a video, which your doctor watches on a computer.

You can eat and drink as usual for about eight hours after the procedure, unless your provider tells you otherwise. Then you’ll take off the recorder and return it. Follow the instructions on how to do this carefully. If you don’t, you could damage or erase the images. Then you can flush the camera capsule down the toilet, if necessary. It usually comes out with a bowel movement or in a few days.

What is the difference between the two?

Capsule endoscopy uses a pill-sized wireless camera to look inside the midsection of your digestive tract, including parts of your small intestine. It is used to find the source of gastrointestinal bleeding when other tests or procedures haven’t worked. It also helps doctors identify problems such as ulcers, inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer.

The pill-sized camera is swallowed and travels through the digestive tract, following the same path that food takes. It sends pictures to a recording device that you wear on a belt around your waist. Your doctor can view the pictures from this device during your procedure or later at a hospital appointment.

Also known as ScotCap Test or Colon Capsule Endoscopy, this test is a newer way of checking endoscope channel the large bowel (colon). It looks for any signs of illness and can be used instead of a colonoscopy in many cases. For this test to work well your bowel needs to be clean, so you may need to take a laxative or follow fasting instructions before the day of your test.

During a capsule endoscopy, your doctor will look at the pictures and may ask you to take more pictures or a biopsy sample of tissue from areas that are causing symptoms. If they can’t find what’s causing your symptoms, they might recommend that you have a colonoscopy.