Evaluation of Capsule endoscopy-2 for possible colorectal cancer
Start Date Nov 2020
Code E21-Aff
Status Ongoing
Project summary
Hospital tests for possible colon cancer have been severely disrupted by the coronavirus epidemic. It may now be months before a patient can get a colonoscopy – so patients may suffer from these delays.
A new capsule test has been developed. The capsule contains a tiny camera, which can look at the inside of the bowel and send pictures for reading. This capsule has really only been tested for screening programmes in people without symptoms of cancer, but it may work in people who have symptoms too.
NHS England want to test the capsule camera on patients who have symptoms of colon cancer. We will perform the analysis of the data and produce a report saying how good the capsule is at detecting cancer. The main area we will report on is whether the camera ‘misses’ any cancers, and if so how many.
If the camera works, it could greatly reduce the waiting time for cancer testing, and could even be introduced into primary care.