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There may be a new way for doctors to diagnose diseases like colon cancer and Crohn’s disease on the horizon. BWH researchers have developed an endoscopic capsule that has the ability to provide clinicians with unprecedented control when photographing the inside of the human body. “Our goal is to develop this capsule so that it could be used to deliver images in real time, and allow clinicians to make a diagnosis during a single procedure with little discomfort or risk to the patient,” said Nobuhiko Hata, PhD, a researcher in the Department of Radiology and leader of the development team for the endoscopic capsule.
The capsule, which is equipped with a camera, would be swallowed like an ordinary pill. Once inside the patient’s digestive track, a physician could steer the capsule through the body using an MRI, photograph areas of interest and view the images.
With current endoscopic capsule technology, there is no way to control what areas of the body are photographed.
“The ability to steer a capsule, aim a camera and take certain pictures is a major leap forward with the potential for broad medical implications,” said Hata. “Ideally, in the future, we would be able to utilize this technology to deliver drugs or other treatments, such as laser surgery, directly to tumors or injuries within the digestive track.”
Hata and his colleague, Peter Jakab, an engineering consultant, successfully tested a prototype of their capsule in an MRI machine and proved that the capsule can be manipulated to “swim” through a tank of water. The next step in their research is to successfully test the capsule inside a human body. Hata and Jakab believe the capsule will move the same way in a human as it does in a tank of water.