Smile, You're On Esophageal Candy Camera

Seeing images inside the body is nothing new, either with an endoscope or even a camera the size of a candy. In the case of a camera, the inside of the intestine can be seen as it makes its way through the intestine and transmits images of the intestinal villi to an external receiver which the patient carries on a belt. This device stores the data so that the physician can later analyze them and identify any hemorrhages or cysts. However, that sort of camera is not suitable for examinations of the esophagus and the stomach because it only takes about three or four seconds to make its way through the esophagus, producing two to four images per second, and once it reaches the stomach its roughly five-gram weight causes it to drop very quickly to the lower wall of the stomach. For examinations of the esophagus and the stomach, therefore, patients still have to swallow a rather thick endoscope. read more

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