Capsule Endoscopy: A New Era of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Abstract

Background: Since the discovery of fiber-optic endoscopy to examine upper and lower gastrointestinal tract, diagnosis and therapy of gastrointestinal diseases were revolutionized. However, by these methods, of the small bowel, only the proximal duodenum and distal ileum could be examined. Hence, rest of the small bowel, which is more than four meters in length, remained like a black box. With the discovery of capsule endoscopy in 2000,[1] not only the small bowel became visible to the Gastroenterologist, but also it led to discovery of a new technology by which a swallowed capsule could take images of the gastrointestinal track and send these to a computer using radio-frequency transmitter. The value, safety and acceptability of this novel technology are further documented by the fact that within a year of its discovery (2001), it was approved by US Food and Drug Administration.[2] These led to an era of physiological endoscopy the scope of which is now increasing day by day to include colon and esophageal capsule endoscopy, steerable capsule and therapeutic capsule endoscopy.