Cancer can now be detected by swallowing a 'pill'

Washington, Jan 25 (UNI) What if swallowing a pill with a camera could detect the earliest signs of cancer? Well, a newly-designed mini endoscope does exactly that.

Researchers from the University of Washington, with the help of a fundamentally new design have created a smaller endoscope that is more comfortable for the patient and cheaper to use than current technology, the Science Daily reported.

The scanning endoscope developed consists of just a single optical fiber for illumination and six fibers for collecting light, all encased in a pill.

The tiny camera is designed to take high-quality, colour pictures in confined spaces. Such a device could find warning signs of esophageal cancer.

''Our technology is completely different from what's available now. This could be the foundation for the future of endoscopy,'' said lead author Eric Seibel.

Using the scanning device is cheap because it's so small it doesn't require anesthesia and sedation, which increase the cost of the traditional procedure.

An endoscope is a flexible camera that travels into the body's cavities to directly investigate the digestive tract, colon or throat. Most of today's endoscopes capture the image using a traditional approach where each part of the camera captures a different section of the image.

UNI XC ARB KP1655