Capsule endoscopy can aid in the identification and management of small bowel tumors. Capsule endoscopy lets the doctor examine the lining of the middle part of the gastrointestinal tract. The doctor will be using a pill sized video capsule in the procedure called an endoscope, which has its own lens and light source and will view the images on a video monitor.

Capsule endoscopy helps your doctor evaluate the small intestine. This part of the bowel cannot be reached by traditional upper endoscopy or by colonoscopy. The most common reason for having this procedure is to search for cause of bleeding from the intestine. It may also be used to detect polyps, inflammatory bowel disease, ulcers and tumors of the small intestine.

Dr. Adam Bailey from the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney says “Capsule endoscopy has the potential to achieve earlier diagnosis of small bowel malignancies offering a greater chance of cure. It should be used early in the course of investigation of suspected small bowel disease, avoiding the delay that has let too many patients having advanced disease at diagnoses.”

As per a report in the October issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology

BIG BROTHER’S star Jade Goody said she is anxiously facing a three-week wait to find out if she has bowel cancer.

Mum of two boys, Jade said: “I am worried about bowel cancer but I have to wait three weeks for the test results. I’m young so, hopefully, everything will be OK. But it is worrying.” Jade said she became worried when she suffered crippling pains and saw blood in the toilet.

Jade, 25, said she was going to carry on as normal and was looking forward to taking her little boys, Bobby, aged three, and Freddy, aged two, to a fireworks display on bonfire night.

The star had a series of tests at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow. Jade will now have to wait three weeks before the test results can be confirmed.

Jade has a history of health scares.

She collapsed with stomach pains last year at her beauty salon – Ugly’s. And she was rushed to hospital with an ovarian cyst in 2004 while appearing on TV show Back To Reality.

The ditzy celebrity who is believed to have earned £3.5 million since she was the tenth evictee from the third series of channel four’s Big Brother recently launched her own perfume and runs her own beauty salon, Ugly’s.

We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed…

Health Minister Brian Gibbons approved the use of cetuximab in June, making Welsh patients the first in the UK to receive the drug.

But the UK’s health watchdog said on Monday it would not recommend its use as it was not cost effective.

Swansea oncologist Professor John Wagstaff said the decision was a “significant blow” to cancer patients.

Cetuximab can delay the spread of advanced cancer and shrink tumors. It is prescribed to patients when all other forms of cancer therapy have failed.

In Wales, suitable patients can currently receive 18 weeks of treatment on the NHS, costing £600 a week.

But The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has published final recommendations which conclude the treatment is not “a good use of scarce NHS resources”.

Deputy chief executive Andrea Sutcliffe said: “The evidence available on cetuximab does not compare it to current standard treatment and therefore we are not able to assess whether it is any better than existing treatments or whether the NHS could justify spending money on the drug.”

Final guidance on the use of the drug is expected in November.

The Welsh Assembly Government said if the recommendations by NICE were finalised, patients in Wales currently receiving the drug would continue to do so.

Prof Wagstaff, from the South West Wales Cancer Institute in Swansea, said the decision was a “significant blow” to patients and oncologists in Wales.

He said: “Cost should not be the deciding factor in how we treat our patients, especially when a drug has proven efficacy and is widely used in the rest of Europe.”

Patient organisations Beating Bowel Cancer and Bowel Cancer UK are “united in anger” by the recommendations.

Hilary Whittaker, chief executive of Beating Bowel Cancer said, “The decision by NICE not to make these drugs routinely available on the NHS to appropriate patients is a scandal and we urge NICE to reconsider its decision.”

Consultees can appeal against the recommendations, but the assembly government has said it is unlikely to do so.

Source: BBC News UK