Colon capsule endoscopy

Three hospital trusts in the north London area – UCLH, Royal Free and Whittington – have joined the national pilot looking into the use of colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) on patients with bowel cancer symptoms. CCE is an innovative diagnostic tool, offered as an alternative to colonoscopy, where patients swallow a small pill containing a camera which takes images as it passes through a patient’s digestive system. For appropriate patients, this test is a less invasive diagnostic which can be carried out at home. It is thought that by offering appropriate patients a CCE rather than a conventional diagnostic such as a colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy, a number of unnecessary investigations could be saved and create additional capacity within hospitals for those patients needing further investigations.