Gastrointestinal Endoscopy – Capsule

Background

Capsule endoscopy (CE) is a noninvasive test that was originally developed to visualize abnormalities of the small intestine but may now be used to diagnose and monitor various disease processes throughout the entire gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The word “endoscopy” is derived from the Greek by combining the prefix “endo” meaning “within” and the verb “skopía” meaning “to view.” The discovery of CE technology dates to 1981 through the collaboration of Gavriel Iddan, Eitan Scapa, and Paul Swain. Application of Shuji Nakamura’s invention of light-emitting diodes (LED) as a light source for optical devices led to further refinement of CE. CE is also referred to as video capsule endoscopy (VCE) and wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE).