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Contact the study team using the details below to take part. If there are no contact details below please ask your doctor in the first instance.

Contact Information:

Miss Monica Haritakis
+44 (0)1904 725459
yhs-tr.colocapstudy@nhs.net


Prof James Turvill
+44 (0)1904 725816
james.turvill@nhs.net


More information about this study, what is involved and how to take part can be found on the study website.

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Be Part of Research - Trial Details - Is a camera in a capsule as accurate as a colonoscopy at diagnosing bowel disease?
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Is a camera in a capsule as accurate as a colonoscopy at diagnosing bowel disease?

Recruiting

Open to: All Genders

Age: Adult

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Medical Conditions

Colon capsule endoscopy diagnostic accuracy compared with as standard colonoscopy

This information is provided directly by researchers, and we recognise that it isn't always easy to understand. We are working with researchers to improve the accessibility of this information. In some summaries, you may come across links to external websites. These websites will have more information to help you better understand the study.


Colonoscopy is the current ‘gold standard’ method of diagnosing bowel disease. Here, a long, thin, flexible telescope is inserted, from the bottom, through the bowel by a trained healthcare worker. It is an uncomfortable procedure. Many patients need to be given intravenous sedation and/or pain relief to be able to cope with it. In the UK, the demand for colonoscopy exceeds the NHS's capacity to provide it. As a result, the diagnosis of a serious disease is being delayed. Colon capsule is a new technology that may be able to provide additional NHS capacity. It may also be better tolerated by some patients. The capsule is a camera in a pill that is swallowed, and which passes safely and usually painlessly through the bowel, taking pictures. It is the size of a large tablet, about 3cm long and 1cm wide, rounded at both ends with a smooth plastic casing. This makes it easy to swallow. It has a camera at each end to capture images of the bowel and a battery life of 10 hours. On average, after about 5 hours the capsule passes out naturally. It is disposable and can be flushed away safely down the toilet. A recorder needs to be worn around the waist to receive the capsule images. Later these are processed to create a report. As with colonoscopy, the bowel needs to be clean for the capsule test. This means that the day before either procedure, the patient will not be able to eat food, but will take clear fluids and purging laxatives. Many people find this the most difficult part of having a colonoscopy or capsule. On the day of the capsule, extra laxatives will need to be taken to help it pass through the bowel.

Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.  

The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:

01 Jan 2025 31 Dec 2026

Publications

2025 Protocol article in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41027693/ (added 01/10/2025)

Patients who decide to take part in the study will be asked to have a colon capsule endoscopy in addition to their colonoscopy. The colon capsule endoscopy will be booked in for the morning and the colonoscopy will be booked in the afternoon so that the capsule has had sufficient time to pass through the stomach and bowel and take pictures of the bowel. Doing both tests on the same day means that participants do not need to take the bowel preparation twice. However, participants would be asked to take some additional laxatives throughout the day called ‘boosters’, to help the capsule move along internally. Participants will be informed of the results of both procedures.


Patients 18 years old and over due to have a colonoscopy because of suspected serious bowel disease (colitis or colorectal cancer) or for routine surveillance after polyp removal

You can take part if:



You may not be able to take part if:


1. Patients < 18 years2. Patients who are unable to safely swallow the CCE* 3. Patients who are unable to safely and fully comply with the bowel preparation* 4. Patients clinically at risk of stricturing bowel disease, such as Crohn’s disease5. Patients who have ever received abdominal or pelvic external beam radiotherapy6. Patients with a history of bowel obstruction7. Patients who have had a (partial) colectomy8. Patients who are currently pregnant or breastfeeding9. Symptomatic patients with suspected CRC who have not had a FIT within 3 months of referral10. Patients with a permanent pacemaker or other implanted electromedical device11. Patients who will not be able to safely tolerate the study* 12. Patients in whom the bowel preparation for CCE will likely be inadequate˟

* These exclusion criteria will require some clinical judgement in line with the existing approach to CCE and colonoscopy in clinical practice. Judgement of ability to tolerate the study requires an assessment of frailty per se, rather than a specific co-morbidity. However, it is likely to include patients with conditions such as cirrhosis, diabetes, stroke, peripheral vascular, heart or renal disease or cognitive impairment.

˟This exclusion criteria will also require some clinical judgement in line with the existing approach to CCE and colonoscopy in clinical practice. It will include patients with slow gastrointestinal motility, such as idiopathic slow transit constipation, those currently using opioid or tricyclic antidepressant medication, a history or prior poor bowel preparation and/or who require regular laxatives in their daily rounds.


Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.

No diagnostic test is perfect and even though a colonoscopy is considered the best procedure available, it can miss significant bowel disease. The opportunity to have two bowel procedures may provide participants with an additional degree of certainty that nothing has been missed.
Additionally, the information collected in this study may help to improve the way people with suspected bowel disease are investigated in the future.
Whilst the bowel preparation the day before the colon capsule endoscopy is the same as that for the colonoscopy, the additional medicines, and laxatives (boosters) taken on the day of the procedure may add to the discomfort of the day, causing additional nausea, tiredness, or pain, although pain is uncommon. This is usually temporary and will go away once the procedure is complete. Some participants may find the long day tiring or difficult to cope with. It is important to drink clear fluids throughout the day to avoid dehydration and to ensure that the bowel is as clean as possible so that all areas of the bowel can be seen.
Rarely (1 in 600 cases) the capsule does not pass through the bowel and can become stuck in the bowel (retention). If this is suspected the doctor may decide that an X-ray and/or CT Scan of the abdomen is required. These examinations would be extra to those that participants would have if they did not take part. X-rays and CT scans both use ionising radiation to form images of the body and provide the doctor with other clinical information. Ionising radiation may cause cancer many years or decades after the exposure. The population are all at risk of developing cancer during their lifetime. 50% of the population is likely to develop one of the many forms of cancer at some stage during our lifetime. If you have an x-ray, the chances of this happening to you may be increased to around 50.002%. If you have an x-ray and a CT scan, the chances of this happening to you may be increased to about 50.03%
Even if the capsule is retained in the bowel, it is unlikely to cause a blockage. Occasionally, an additional endoscopy procedure may be needed to retrieve the capsule. If this is not possible, it is most often because of an undiagnosed narrowing disease of the bowel such as a tumour or stricture and this itself will require planned surgery to deal with. A CT scan may be needed to make this diagnosis. Here the colon capsule will have identified the problem. Very rarely the capsule may cause a complete blockage of a narrowed bowel (acute obstruction). This would cause severe pain and vomiting and may require emergency surgery.
The risk of not being able to swallow the capsule is about one in a thousand and there is an extremely rare risk of the capsule going down the wrong way into the lungs rather than the stomach (aspiration).
Participants would not be able to have an MRI scan of any part of the body (for a related or unrelated reason) until there is confirmation that the capsule has passed out of the bottom.

Prof James Turvill
+44 (0)1904 725816
james.turvill@nhs.net


Miss Monica Haritakis
+44 (0)1904 725459
yhs-tr.colocapstudy@nhs.net



More information about this study, what is involved and how to take part can be found on the study website.


The study is sponsored by York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and funded by National Institute for Health and Care Research.



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Read full details for Trial ID: ISRCTN16126290

Or CPMS 57318

Last updated 01 October 2025

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