My story: Like something out of Star Trek
Dale holds the amazing camera that helped Dr. Robbins diagnose Dale's intestinal bleeding.
When Dale of Brownton was out of his medications, he made an appointment with Dr. Peter Smyth at GRHS. At Dale’s checkup, Dr. Smyth ordered a standard round of tests. Dale’s blood count was too low, an indicator of possible internal bleeding.
The usual culprit is the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, from the esophagus through the colon. Dale had a complete GI workup. But when the results of the tests came back negative and Dale’s blood count continued to fall, Dr. Smyth and Dr. Chad Robbins, general surgeon, discussed next steps. There were three choices: Perform exploratory surgery, send Dale to the Twin Cities for a more invasive scope procedure, or give him a camera … to swallow.
Dr. Robbins decided on the PillCam – no larger than a multi-vitamin, it contains a tiny digital camera that a patient swallows to capture images of the GI tract. It passes through the small intestine, out of reach for most scopes because it’s too far up in the body’s midsection. “The nurse put some electrode patches on my chest. They gave me a device to wear at my waist – like a transistor radio. And then I ‘took’ the PillCam,” says Dale. For eight hours, the PillCam worked its way through Dale’s GI tract, sending 50,000 images to the device on his belt. He says, “It was nothing. I just did my chores.”
From the photos, Dr. Robbins located a lesion, the source of the bleeding that had skewed Dale’s blood count. Steroids were prescribed, the lesion began to heal, and Dale’s hemoglobin numbers went back to normal. Dr. Robbins says, “The great thing is that we have this technology right here. We’re the only organization in the area with the PillCam. It’s the best tool we have to find problems in that ‘no-man’s land’ section of the GI tract.”
What happens to the PillCam after its work is done? The disposable camera works its way through the system and follows the same course as everything else one swallows. No surgery, no stitches, no discomfort. Safe and easy.
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