Bowel Disease Detected Early With New Tool

A new kind of endoscope to detect and diagnose inflammatory bowel disease early has been developed by researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The Confocal Laser Endomicroscope (CLE) contains a powerful microscope which allows clinicians to view the bacteria that are thought to trigger diseases of the bowel such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Causes, Diagnosis, Treatment
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) causes recurrent abdominal pain or discomfort and a fluctuating disturbance in defecation. IBS is not life threatening.

"Bacteria within the wall of the gut are already believed to play an important role in the development of inflammatory bowel disease and we now have a powerful new tool for viewing this bacteria during routine colonoscopy," said Prof Alastair Watson.

"This new technique will allow the rapid identification of patients at risk or in the early stages of this common but distressing group of diseases," he added.

The current method of taking biopsies prevents observation of the bacteria's exact location and of the way it interacts with the mucous membrane.

Colonoscopy Procedure
An animation of Colonoscopy that shows the appearance of large intestine or colon by using a thin and flexible viewing tube called the colonoscope.

The new endomicroscopy technique, which uses a flourescent dye to highlight the bacteria, allows these exact processes to be viewed at a sub-cellular level during routine colonoscopy.

Source-ANI

Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis is characterized by bouts of diarrhea, bleeding per rectum and pain, which remits and relapses. Fulminant colitis is a possibility, which may require colectomy.