This information was reported by the Sportz resource, reports URA-Inform.
Today, gastroscopy is used to detect oncological diseases of the digestive system, a procedure that is often considered unpleasant and difficult. Doctors have proposed an alternative to this method, replacing the long tube with a camera with a small capsule with an attached sponge.
When you swallow the capsule, its shell dissolves, and the sponge, which has previously collected the required number of cells from the esophagus, rises along the thread. The entire diagnostic process takes only ten minutes and can be done by a general practitioner.
A study is currently being conducted involving more than one hundred and twenty thousand people with a preliminary diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus (a precancerous condition of the lower esophagus) . Scientists are racing to determine whether the new technique can replace endoscopy.
The sponge capsule is believed to be able to detect 10 times more cases of Barrett's esophagus than traditional endoscopy.
Statistically, the number of cases Esophageal cancer worldwide has increased sixfold since the 1990s. Research shows that only about 12% of patients live more than five years after diagnosis, according to the University of Cambridge.
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