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Date: February 7, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State-of-the-Art PillCam™ Capsule Endoscopy WAILUKU, Maui, Hawaii - February 7, 2007 - Thanks to a donation by Maui Memorial Medical Center Foundation, Maui Memorial Medical Center's Endoscopy Department is now using a "camera pill," a cutting edge non-invasive procedure to detect and diagnose gastrointestinal (GI) disorders in patients. Given Imaging's PillCam™ is an ingestible capsule device equipped with a miniature video camera to visualize the small intestine, esophagus, and colon for detection of damage or disease. After the disposable pill is swallowed, the PillCam™ capsule travels through the GI tract transmitting thousands of images to a DataRecorder™ fixed to a belt worn around the patient's waist. The images from the capsule are then downloaded into a RAPID® 4 workstation where a physician can view the images on a video monitor and make a diagnosis. The PillCam™ video capsule allows physicians to visualize the entire small intestine - an area of the body that was only partially viewable by traditional endoscopy, while the PillCam™ video capsule allows physicians to visualize the esophagus in a procedure that lasts only 20 minutes, and has a comparable accuracy to traditional endoscopies. Patients' recovery is also immediate, with minimal discomfort, and they can return to a normal routine right away. Approximately 70 million Americans currently suffer from GI disorders of the small bowel and esophagus, and many of these conditions go undiagnosed, or are treated by trial and error. To date, over 400,000 people around the world have benefited from the PillCam™ capsule endoscopy. "We're delighted with this wireless capsule endoscopy and with the satisfaction from our patients' who have undergone this procedure," said James Hansen, M.D. of Maui Gastroenterology. "Up till now, there has always been a blind spot, the 30-feet of small intestine, which forced us to make our best assumptions. With the PillCam™ technology we are now able to view clear images of the small bowel which helps us make a better diagnosis of the patient's condition." Maui Memorial Medical Center Foundation is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization that raises funds for Maui Memorial Medical Center - the largest acute care hospital of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation (HHSC) and the only full-service, acute care hospital on Maui. For more information, contact Maui Memorial Medical Center Foundation: email lcorrea@hhsc.org or call 242-2630.
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