A pilot scheme has been launched in the West Midlands that allows patients to undergo a procedure to detect causes of the stomach or digestive complaints in the privacy of their homes.
Patients awaiting an endoscopy (a procedure where a camera is fed into the bowel with the aid of a thin tube to detect signs of issues like cancer) will soon be able to undergo such a less invasive procedure from their homes.
West Midlands 5G (WM5G), University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, NHS Arden and GEM CSU, and CorporateHealth International are exploring how a pill-sized camera powered by 5G can be used to deliver a colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) at home under medical guidance.
A CCE Smartbox a device developed can be used independently in patient’s homes. The device is supported by 5G to assist in the capture and transmit images of the bowel without going to the hospital.
Although this type of device has been available to patients for about 15 years, there has been no self-administration at home. With 5G connectivity, there is hope that the technology can be adopted widely.
In addition to real-time transmission of images captured, the use of a faster network 5G allows the use of a ‘virtual assistant’ that can provide guidance and answers to the patient while the clinician can monitor and track the equipment throughout the process. It is anticipated that making use of 5G to allow home testing will reduce waiting times and hasten the process of detecting irregularities and treatment.
CCE provides lots of advantages which include providing patients with more flexible and less invasive testing and potentially having their symptoms investigated sooner. Clinical staff will have the ability to save cost and time while increasing satisfaction of patients, enhancing service efficiency, and provide test results to patients sooner.
Ramesh Arasaradnam OBE, a senior gastroenterologist at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire, said: “Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in the UK with around 20,000 deaths each year. We also know that if detected early, the prognosis is good.’’
“Each year, over 2 million endoscopies are scheduled to take place through the NHS, but the level of demand combined with limited clinical capacity has resulted in a backlog. This has been exacerbated by COVID-19 as endoscopy rooms require additional cleaning between procedures, limiting the number of appointments that can be handled in a day.
Robert Franks, managing director of WM5G said: “5G holds the ability to revolutionize the way we think about healthcare making it more patient-centric. This trial will show it is not only possible to transform how we conduct investigative procedures but to also make it more efficient and intuitive for the clinician to analyze the findings.
The 5G project follows two further trials within the West Midlands exploring how 5G can assist the healthcare of patients and work alongside other projects to enhance endoscopy care. If proven, the connectivity 5G can be paired with AI technologies to assist clinicians to analyze video and images footage recorded.