Pill-sized cameras speeds up small intestine endoscopy
Although the first endoscopic capsule took its journey through the small intestine of a human patient about 18 years ago, capturing thousands of images of the small bowel, capsule endoscopy still suffers from one key limitation: images are captured on a strictly timed sequence, whether the capsule has moved or not.
This can create a glut of redundant images that needs to be sifted and filtered by hand. With image capture responding to actual movement, the amount of redundant data can be minimized, with up to a third fewer images to sort through. A novel endoscopic capsule technology was developed as part of the Endotrace research project supported with €1.2 million in funding from the German Ministry of Education and Research. The project was completed in November 2018, with the Fraunhofer Institute for Reliability and Microintegration IZM, Ocesco Endoscopy AG, and AMS presenting a ‘treat-sized’ capsule whose unassuming exterior hides cutting-edge technology on the inside. With no fewer than five cameras, a tracer, and a memory module on board, the tiny capsule still has room for its battery pack and an LED light.
A built-in controller responds to minute changes in the villi that line the intestinal walls and triggers the camera after the capsule has moved a tenth of an inch. Thanks to this trick, instead of several thousand repetitive images, the Endotrace capsule produces less than half, but far more meaningful data and helps speed up the diagnostic process. This promises a faster reaction to acute conditions like gastrointestinal bleeding. However, it will still take some time before the first capsule will go on its journey through an actual patient’s digestive system: While the technology is ready, the system still has to go through the long medical approval process.
“Endotrace is a passion project for me! Endoscopic diagnostics helps save lives – and we are making it that little bit easier and better”, said Manuel Seckel, Project Leader at Fraunhofer IZM.
Fraunhofer IZM – www.izm.fraunhofer.de
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