OUR MISSION: MAKING ENDOSCOPY BETTER
Healthcare systems under pressure
Healthcare systems worldwide are under pressure as a result of an ageing population. Costs are rising and staffing shortages are increasing. If nothing changes, difficult choices will have to be made about which healthcare procedures will continue to be provided in the future. If we want to keep receiving high-quality care, we need disruptive innovations that can diagnose and treat faster, with less personnel and at lower costs – while maintaining or improving the outcomes for patients. At Capsule Photonics, we are developing just that.
The problem with conventional endoscopy
At Capsule Photonics it is our mission to improve upper endoscopy with our capsule endoscopes. Each year, approximately 7.5 million upper endoscopies are performed in the US alone to diagnose diseases within the esophagus. Currently this is done with a conventional endoscope: a flexible tube with a camera at the tip. A doctor inserts the endoscope through the mouth and moves it around to visually inspect the esophagus. However, by only looking with a regular camera at the tissue surface not all diseases are easy to diagnose. For example, 25% of esophageal cancer cases are missed with conventional endoscopy. Furthermore, upper endoscopies are expensive and labor-intensive. The wait-list to see a gastroenterologist is more than 6 months.
Our focus: making esophageal cancer easier to see
Each year, more than half a million people are diagnosed with esophageal cancer and 75% die within 5 years after receiving this diagnosis. One in twenty adults has a disease called Barrett’s esophagus and as a result have a higher risk of getting esophageal cancer. Therefore, people with Barrett’s esophagus undergo regular screening for esophageal cancer with conventional endoscopes (endoscopic surveillance). The current screening procedure with conventional endoscopy misses 25% of early cancer and as a result, once Barrett’s esophagus patients are diagnosed with cancer, one in ten needs major surgery and one in four dies within five years of their diagnosis. The procedure is also expensive and labor-intensive.
Enabling doctors to diagnose and treat more patients better
Our capsule endoscopes will enable doctors to treat patients better, because the advanced imaging techniques will make early esophageal cancer easier to see and thereby better to treat. Our capsule endoscopes will also save time and resources, enabling doctors to diagnose and treat more patients.