North Yorkshire: Pill camera studied for use in detecting cancer

Prof James Turvill said it was a "real privilege" to be working on the project

A new procedure using tiny cameras inside a pill to help detect bowel cancer is to be tested in North Yorkshire.

Health bosses said the ColoCap study would see up to 1,000 patients swallow the tablet as an alternative to a traditional colonoscopy.

Recruiting patients for the £3m research project is to begin in April.

Prof James Turvill said if the trials proved successful the camera pill could be in general use by 2027.

York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has been awarded the money to lead national research into the tablet, which officials said could "improve the clinical pathway for diagnosis of bowel cancer".

'Less invasive'

A spokesperson for the trust said the colon capsule endoscopy was an easy-to-swallow "camera in a capsule" which once swallowed travels through the stomach and small intestine to the large bowel, taking multiple photographs of the inner lining of the bowel.

The images are sent to a recorder worn by the patient which are then downloaded. Eventually, the capsule passes naturally out of the body within the stool.

The spokesperson said swallowing a capsule would be far less invasive and painful that a traditional colonoscopy.

The capsule is an alternative to a traditional colonoscopy

They said a colonoscopy takes place in a hospital using a telescope to provide images of the large bowel and could be "embarrassing and uncomfortable".

It was hoped the technology would mean patients could swallow the capsule in a GP surgery or the comfort of their own homes, they added.

Prof Turvill, consultant gastroenterologist with the trust, said 50 trusts around the UK would be involved in the research which, if successful, could "rapidly increase the capacity for diagnosing bowel cancer and other bowel diseases and so reduce waiting times".

Simon Morritt, the trust's chief executive, added: "The colon capsule endoscopy has a great deal of potential and we are excited and privileged to be leading its national evaluation.

"If successful, the potential benefit to patients cannot be underestimated."