Overview
Capsule endoscopy is a procedure that uses a tiny wireless camera to take pictures of the organs in the body that food and liquids travel through. This is called the digestive tract. A capsule endoscopy camera sits inside a vitamin-sized capsule. After it’s swallowed, the capsule travels through the digestive tract. The camera takes thousands of pictures that are sent to a recorder worn on a belt around the waist.
Capsule endoscopy shows inside the small intestine. This area isn’t easily reached with other endoscopy procedures. Typical endoscopy involves passing a long, flexible tube equipped with a video camera down the throat or through the rectum.
Why it’s done
A health care professional might suggest a capsule endoscopy procedure to:
- Find the cause of bleeding in the small intestine. This is the most common reason for doing capsule endoscopy.
- Diagnose inflammatory bowel diseases. Capsule endoscopy can find the irritated and inflamed areas in the small intestine in diseases such as Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis.
- Diagnose cancer. Capsule endoscopy can show tumors in the small intestine or other parts of the digestive tract.
- Diagnose celiac disease. Capsule endoscopy is sometimes used in diagnosing and watching this immune reaction to eating gluten.
- Look at the esophagus. Capsule endoscopy can review the muscular tube that connects the mouth and the stomach, called the esophagus. This is to look for veins that have gotten larger, called varices.
- Screen for polyps. Certain syndromes that run in families can cause polyps in the small intestine. A capsule endoscopy can check for these polyps.
- Do follow-up testing after X-rays or other imaging tests. If the results of an imaging test are unclear, a capsule endoscopy might get more information.
