Small Bowel Capsule Endoscopy

Capsule endoscopy is the test used to look inside the small intestine, the part of the gut that lies between the stomach and the large intestine and cannot be reached by standard upper endoscopy or colonoscopy.

You swallow a small wireless capsule that contains a camera. As it travels through the digestive tract, it transmits thousands of images to a recorder you wear on a belt for 8 to 10 hours. It is commonly used to find the source of obscure GI bleeding and to evaluate the small bowel when other tests have not given an answer.

You attend the clinic in the morning, swallow the capsule with water, and go about your day with the recorder.

You return in the evening to drop off the recorder. Images are reviewed and a report issued in a few days.

Capsule retention (the capsule getting stuck) is uncommon and occurs mainly in patients with strictures. Screening tests can identify high-risk patients beforehand.