Gut Investigations
Wireless capsule endoscopy
This is a technique which allows us to look at the lining of the bowel between the extent reached by an upper endoscopy, ie the duodenum and the extent reached by a colonoscope, ie the terminal ileum. This can be anywhere between 100-500cm dependant on the age and size of the child. It is a small capsule, approximately 23mm by 11mm which is swallowed and then transmits images via radio frequency, which is perfectly safe, to a harness which is worn for a period of 8 hours. It is useful for looking for inflammation in the mid-small bowel or for any polyps that have not been seen before or for any areas of bleeding which may be occurring causing anaemia or blood loss from the gut. We have pioneered the paediatric use of this technique at the Portland Hospital and Sheffield Children’s Hospital and it has proven extremely useful in diagnosis.
The capsules are simply passed normally with faeces. This may indeed be the future for diagnostic purposes although biopsies as yet cannot be taken with this technique.
An alternative capsule is now available for adolescents and we can send this out in the post for you to swallow and then these are simply collected and sent back to us and we can download the video. In younger children, certainly under the age of 8 and certainly under the age of 10 the video-capsule will be placed by endoscopy.