"Smart pills" to replace endoscopy?
Scottish health researchers are at the forefront of a new £6m project to make Artificial Intelligence-assisted capsule endoscopy a part of future bowel cancer diagnostics.
Bowel cancer is the second most-common cause of cancer death in Scotland, with around 1,600 people dying of the disease each year.
The current detection method involves inserting an endoscope, a thin flexible tube with a camera on the end, into a patient’s colon which then travels around the large bowel allowing doctors to check for cancer.
Clinical Capsule Endoscopy (CCE) uses a ‘smart pill’ containing cameras which, once swallowed by a patient, records images of the intestines as it passes through.
The diagnostic procedure is currently being rolled out across the NHS in Scotland through the ScotCap programme to support endoscopy service remobilisation and alleviate pressure on the NHS following the COVID-19 pandemic.
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