Great Concept of High-Tech Colonoscope

Check this youtube video for a new type colonoscope. (Sorry, I never get enough "points" to allow posting links so you will probably have to cut and paste)

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej69QPtwK8Q

What a great concept for ease of insertion. Wish I had thought of it. Wouldn't it make a great colon tube? Of course, with all the sensors and controls that would have to be built in to prevent accidental over-pressure, it would probably cost thousands of dollars. I am sure this experimental colonoscope station will cost hundreds of thousands when it becomes approved for US sale. Such is the lot of medical devices.

The patient in the presentation did not appear to be sedated. Is sedation recommended for use of this device or because of the controlled pressure is sedation unnecessary?

I am betting no sedation req'd. I had my first colonoscopy w/o any sedation in a doctor's office. Interestingly, the only pain, -albeit SIGNIFICANT pain, was in my testicles as the scope was pushed deeper causing a reactive force pressing against my prostate (I speculate, of course) That certainly wouldn't occur with this device. Of course, I think the basic reason for sedation is so your abdominal muscles are totally relaxed during the procedure.

The device has one MAJOR shortcoming. Like Virtual Colonoscopy, there is no ability to snip and retrieve polyps that may be found. If you find any, then you are forced to repeat the procedure with a real colonscope, and in effect double the cost. It is fact of life that Medical electronics are obscenely priced. That is largely because of how much we like to sue each other (most of the extra cost goes into liability insurance).

I don't know what the incidence of polyps is , but it won't take take a very high incidence to make the use of this device signficantly more expensive than conventional optical colonoscopy.

BTW, there are already devices that inflate the colon with CO2. These are used in conjuction with Virtual colonoscopy, and they have both an electronic and mechanical pressure relief. The mechanical is slight slightly than the electronic, so if the electronic unit fails, the mechanical release activates. IIRC the electronic is typically set to about 1 psi, and the mechanical is set to about 1.5 psi. 1.5 psi corresponds to an enema bag hung about 3 feet above the patient..

Mattheww50, polyps are observed in 6% of colonoscopies performed.

As one who gets scoped every 3 years and where polyps are ALWAYS found, this is interesting and might be the future for those who have never had polyps. I have to have the real scope used, because I am a polyp producing machine.

The last time I had a colonoscopy, I had them give me the pain killer, but not the Verset. In that way, I was conscious and could watch proceedings just to satisfy my curiosity as to what went on and what the inside of my colon looked like. I found it interesting. You might give it a try.

hankb

This thing is an amazing advance, the next generation of this system will allow doing everything a traditional scope will do, and potentially better imaging than a conventional scope.

When they get FDA approval and are in the U.S., I want to be first in line.

To my original point, I still think this concept has potential for a colon tube application. Inflate a little balloon on the end of the tube after getting it started. Then, since there are the safety issues with pressurized gas, just let the water pressure from the enema bag push the balloon through the bends in the colon. The rest of the tube would just be dragged in as the balloon went deeper. Yeah, there would be challenges. Like, what is the right amount of (presumably) air to get the balloon to seal but not so much as to potentially cause damage. How do you vent any gas, solid, or liquid upstream of the balloon so the balloon won't stop as pressures equalize on both sides. (This Colonoscope must also have to deal with the pressure-balance issue.)

There are some creative folks out there. I hope the video stimulates their thinking.