Small intestines rock!
And finally get some
well-deserved respect
To get a good look at our digestive
system, gastroenterologists can go
in from the top with an endoscopy,
or from the bot tom with a
hiatal hernia, and they don’t have
colon polyps causing it. Quite often,
This method takes about eight
undiagnosed for months and months
or take biopsies.
these
patients
have
been
and keep on requiring transfusions,
and ultimately, they’re sent here.”
Scoping Out Scopes
The current methods for viewing
colonoscopy.
the small intestine aren’t perfect.
several feet located in our small
requires patients to swallow a
But what about the middle —
intestine? This area is a little trickier
to access, and the current methods
for examining it have room for
improvement. That’s where the
research of Daniel DeMarco, M.D.,
medical director for digestive
disease technology at Baylor
University Medical Center at Dallas,
comes into play.
Though many digestive problems
can be found in the “top” or “bottom”
of the digestive system, some are
found in the small intestine. These
can include bleeding, infections,
intestinal obstructions, intestinal
cancer and more.
“The type of patients we see most
often are those with unexplained
anemia,” Dr. DeMarco said. “They
keep on losing blood from their
gastrointestinal system, but they
don’t have ulcers, they don’t have a
16
And sometimes you miss things.”
Capsule endoscopy, for example,
vitamin-sized capsule containing a
tiny camera. It takes pictures all the
way down the digestive tract, “but,
it’s not a direct look,” Dr.
DeMarco
said.
“Sometimes you’re
looking
for ward.
Sometime s you’re
looking backward.
hours, and it cannot remove polyps
More recently, engineers have
developed advanced scopes that
allow gastroenterologists to access
the entire small intestine. The new
technology works by pulling the
small intestine up around the scope,
as opposed to pushing the
instrument through the intestine.
A 30-Minute View of the Small
Intestine
Dr. DeMarco has worked closely
with one of the companies that
developed these scopes. About
five years ago, an engineer from
the company told him about some
improvements he was considering
for the scopes. Engineers
took apar t an older
scope and placed a
motor about the size of
an index finger into