A new technology that uses a remote-controlled capsule camera to scan the inside of the colon may one day be an alternative to colonoscopy, a new study suggests. Researchers from Japan’s Osaka Medical College have developed a “self-propelled capsule endoscope” that can be inserted into the anus and driven through the colon via remote control and a magnetic field, capturing images along the way. Similar capsule cameras are currently used to scout out problems in the small intestine, said Dr. Durado Brooks, director of colorectal cancer for the American Cancer Society. Patients swallow the capsule, which then moves through the digestive system much in the same way that food does, recording images of the inside of the intestine.
