High-tech capsule could be alternative to colonoscopy

Let’s face it: Nobody wants to go through a colonoscopy, recommended for people over 50 to screen for colorectal cancer — the third most common cancer, with approximately 1.4 million new cases diagnosed worldwide each year, and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Because nearly one-third of the eligible US population and more than 60 percent of people outside the US choose to avoid the invasive endoscopic colonoscopy procedure and its laxative preparation, global screening rates remain low. Yet evidence shows the removal of adenomatous polyps found through colonoscopy can reduce colorectal incidence and mortality.

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Check-Cap, based in the northern Israeli town of Isfiya, recently received the European Union’s CE Mark for its C-Scan system, an ingestible x-ray capsule for preparation-free colorectal cancer screening. Without undergoing any laxative preparation, the patient swallows the ultra-low dose x-ray capsule along with one tablespoon of a contrast agent and fiber supplements with each meal. Over the next two or three days, the system collects data enabling generation of 2D and 3D maps of the colon before eliminating the capsule naturally. Physicians look at the maps on a clinical data viewer to identify pre-cancerous polyps and other abnormalities. Only if a polyp is found, which happens in up to 25% of cases, would the patient have to get a colonoscopy. -- More...

Ultra-low dose x-ray capsule

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