[Science Report]:Digestive System Camera


This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Science Report.

The American government has approved a device that lets doctorssee detailed images from inside the human body.

The Food and Drug Administration approved marketing of a deviceas small as a medicine pill. The patient swallows the device. Itcontains a very small video camera. It travels through the stomach,small intestine and large intestine. The camera sends color imagesto a special receiver worn by the patient. The body expels thecamera with its wastes. Later, the doctor downloads the images fromthe receiver to see them on a computer.

The product is called the Given Diagnostic Imaging System. AnIsraeli company, Given Imaging Limited, developed the unusualdevice. The company has offices in the United States, Australia andGermany.

Currently, doctors use a method called endoscopy to provideimages of the small intestines. An endoscope is a long thin tubewith a small camera on the end. Doctors use endoscopy to identifygrowths, cancer and causes of bleeding. Doctors place the endoscopedown a patient's throat to look at the small intestine.

However, endoscopes are not able to reach all the way through thesmall intestine because the organ is six meters long. The F-D-A saysthe new device takes pictures of the entire small intestine. Ithelps doctors see areas in the small intestine that endoscopescannot reach.

The Given Diagnostic Imaging System contains a camera, lights, atransmitter and power supply. The power supply has an expected lifeof eight hours. That generally is long enough to take pictures ofthe small intestine, but not the large intestine.

F-D-A officials say the device was tested in twenty patients whohad signs of disorders of the small intestine. Officials say thedevice discovered intestinal problems in twelve patients. Atraditional endoscope found problems in only seven of the patients.A combination of different tests identified fourteen problems inthirteen of the twenty patients.

The Food and Drug Administration says the Given DiagnosticImaging System is safe and has no side effects. It approved thedevice for use along with other methods to examine the smallintestines. The device was not tested in the large intestine.

This VOA Special English Science Report was written by GeorgeGrow.

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