• 3/20/2008
  • Alexandria, LA
  • Farrah Reyna
  • NewsChannel5 (kalb.com)

Cancer of the esophagus is one of the fastest growing cancers in the United States. That’s why researchers in Seattle are hoping new technology in the form of a tethered endoscope will make screening for throat cancer cheaper and faster, and more likely to be covered by all insurance companies.

Biomedical engineer Eric Seibel is about to swallow a small camera the size of pill. Each swallow of water is pushing a one-pixel camera lower into his esophagus. A tether controls where it goes as it takes 30 color pictures per second on its way to his stomach.
He said, “We have a little scanner and we scan very low-powered laser light to get the high resolution imaging.”

Researchers believe this new endoscope will be cheaper to use and more effective at screening the digestive tract for pre-cancerous conditions like Barrett’s esophagus –or- throat cancer.

Doctor Seibel said, “To look for something right above your stomach at the bottom of your esophagus, that’s where you get heart burn and that’s where a lot of the esophageal cancers start. And what you would like to have is a little tether and a camera to look right at that point, make that diagnosis, confirm that diagnosis and then just pull it out.”

Normal endoscopes require patients to be sedated. This new technology is faster and cheaper because patients are awake.

Karen Murray, a gastroenterologist said, “If someone is having a lot of heartburn pain and you wanted to see if there was significant, visible esophogitis, you could do that quite easily. And if there was a concern, but not obvious proof that there was a foreign body in the esophagus, one could take a look and pull this back out.”

Future uses for the tethered endoscope could include more than pictures. Researchers believe some day they might be able to deliver treatments through the device.

This isn’t the first pill-sized endoscope. Wireless capsules have been around for a few years… but they’re designed to pass through the body and only allow a single fly-by view. Patients who swallow the tethered endoscope would give doctors the ability to see all areas of concern. Researchers hope to begin clinical trials on their new device soon.