TUESDAY, 4 AUGUST, 2020

For immediate release: generic photo attached of a patient with the Colon Capsule

Camera in a pill will help detect bowel cancer and reduce waiting times

Clinicians in NHS Tayside are using technology in the form of a tiny camera inside a pill, called a Colon Capsule, to help early detection of bowel cancer and reduce waiting times.

NHS Tayside, in partnership with the University of Dundee, is using technology in the early detection of bowel cancer. NHS Tayside has received £140,000 from Scottish Government to use the technology as an alternative to colonoscopy to reduce waiting times as part of its COVID remobilisation plans. The funding will initially see 200 patients benefit from the capsule tests.

Dr Craig Mowat, Consultant Gastroenterologist with NHS Tayside and Senior Lecturer in Gastroenterology with University of Dundee, said, “Patients who attend their GP with bowel symptoms are asked to provide a stool sample to look for traces of blood. If blood is present then usually a colonoscopy is required and patients would have to visit hospital for the procedure, which may be uncomfortable.

“Since the COVID pandemic, we now need extra cleaning of rooms between cases and use of PPE, meaning that we cannot perform as many procedures in a day as we could before COVID. If we can get the information we need without having to bring people to hospital for this procedure, it will allow us to see and treat many more patients and reduce waiting times.

“The Colon Capsule is a pill-sized camera which has a bright light and two cameras which beam images to a recorder worn by the patient. It will film the inside of the lower intestine to determine whether there are any abnormalities. The Colon Capsule makes the procedure non-invasive, painless and the patient does not need to be sedated.

“We will invite selected patients to a Community Hub to swallow the capsule, then they return home. The capsule will ultimately be passed into the toilet and flushed away. For the majority of patients who are selected to swallow the capsule we believe that no further tests will be required. We will continue to send patients with the highest risk of abnormalities straight to colonoscopy.”

Contact:

NHS Tayside Communications

(01382) 424138