Pill Shaped Camera for Colonoscopy Approved

A tiny pill-sized camera has been approved by regulators for medical use in the U.S., and may just make your next colonoscopy a dozen times more comfortable.

The "Pillcam Colon," a small wireless endoscopic camera in the shape of a pill has just been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use with patients who have trouble with standardized colonoscopy procedures.

Colonoscopies, which are essential in aging adults for detecting and preventing the early stages of colon cancer, normally involved the probing of one's large intestine with a four foot long flexible tube. Insertion of the tube will be arguably one of the most uncomfortable procedures in the average person's medical experience. The probe, called a colonoscopy, has a tiny camera on the end through which doctors can inspect a patients colon and take pictures.

The procedure is a necessary one, but not one most people wish to endure. With the Pillcam now available for sale to U.S. medical providers, that attitude may soon change. According to the Pillcam's product description, the tiny ingestible camera records its entire passage through the large intestine through two fish-eye lenses, capturing images of every part of the colon before passing through the patient's body naturally.

Before this breakthrough, colonoscopies sometimes were incomplete, the colonoscopy simply not being able to get the right angle to view the entire colon without the aid of radiation or sedation.

Still, the Pillcam isn't for everyone. According to the FDA, because the quality of images from the pill's high-speed camera are not as detailed as a traditional colonoscopy's, the pill has only been approved for use in patients who have had an incomplete colonoscopy or have a history of having them.

The Pillcam costs an estimated $500, but with the average rate for a colonoscopy being about $4000, cost for regular use of the Pillcam, if ever approved, might be significantly marked up in the U.S. market.

The Pillcam Colon has already been approved for at least limited use in 80 other countries.