Medical procedures >>>> Capsule gastroscopy - gastroscopy without a probe

Capsule gastroscopy - gastroscopy without a probe.

In diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, one of the most effective methods of diagnostic examination is gastroscopy - swallowing a probe (gastroscope), at the end of which there is a device that allows you to examine the structures of the esophagus and stomach from the inside. But the very procedure of swallowing the probe is unpleasant and often becomes a stumbling block for patients who are afraid to swallow a foreign object.

As an alternative to gastroscopic intubation, the technology of capsule gastroscopy has been developed and is being successfully applied, when instead of a probe, a small (like a pill) electronic capsule is swallowed, which, unlike a probe, is able to go all the way through the gastrointestinal tract and shoot thousands of frames of its state. Video frames are transmitted via bluetooth to a computer monitor, where a gastroenterologist examines the condition of the walls of the gastrointestinal tract and identifies pathologies.

Capsule gastroscopy is not a comprehensive diagnosis, with this examination method it is impossible to consider pathological changes in the thickness of the tissues, there is no possibility to take a tissue sample for research, in case of intestinal obstruction, the method is useless, since the capsule moves naturally through the intestine, and stops at the places where it is blocked.

Capsule gastroscopy is a new and expensive examination. They prepare for it in advance, changing the nature of the diet a few days before swallowing the capsule: products that cause gas formation (legumes, coarse grains, rye bread, raw vegetables and fruits) are excluded from the diet. Temporarily switch to soups and boiled dishes.

The day before the examination, they begin to take Espumisan to remove gases from the intestinal lumen, as this interferes with viewing the images from the camera. On the eve of the examination, they empty the intestines and refrain from eating. By the time the electronic capsule is swallowed, a device is attached outside the abdomen to the patient, which will receive the bluetooth signal from the capsule and accumulate the footage.

The capsule moves through the gastrointestinal tract for 8 hours. The patient is allowed to drink water during this period of time, and after half the time interval (when the capsule has passed part of the way), it is allowed to have a light snack. During the procedure, as a rule, there are no side effects, discomfort in the intestines is possible. The capsule is excreted from the body in a natural way and is not subject to any further use, including as a storage device and a source of information. All captured frames are transferred from the external receiving device to the computer.