Lee John H, Traverso Giovanni, Ibarra-Zarate David, Boning Duane S, Anthony Brian W
Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139; Brigham and Women's Hospital, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115.
J Med Device. 2020 Jun 1;14(2):021005. doi: 10.1115/1.4046352. Epub 2020 Mar 18.
Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) has revolutionized the capacity for evaluation of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, but its evaluation is limited to the mucosal surface. To overcome this, ultrasound capsule endoscopy (UCE) that can evaluate the deeper structures beyond the mucosal surface has been proposed and several studies focusing on technology development have demonstrated promising results. However, investigations of the potential for clinical utility of this technology are lacking. This work had two main goals: perform ex vivo and in vivo imaging studies in a swine model to (1) evaluate if acoustic coupling between a capsule with a specific size and GI tract can be achieved only through peristalsis autonomously without any human control and (2) identify key issues and challenges to help guide further research. The images acquired in these studies were able to visualize the wall of the GI tract as well as the structures within demonstrating that achieving adequate acoustic coupling through peristalsis is possible. Critical challenges were identified including level of visualization and area of coverage; these require further in-depth investigation before potential clinical utility of UCE technology can be concluded.
无线胶囊内镜（WCE）彻底改变了胃肠道（GI）的评估能力，但其评估仅限于黏膜表面。为克服这一局限性，人们提出了能够评估黏膜表面以外更深层结构的超声胶囊内镜（UCE），并且多项专注于技术开发的研究已取得了有前景的成果。然而，这项技术临床应用潜力的研究仍很缺乏。本研究有两个主要目标：在猪模型中进行体外和体内成像研究，以（1）评估特定尺寸的胶囊与胃肠道之间是否仅通过自主蠕动就能在无人为控制的情况下实现声学耦合，以及（2）识别关键问题和挑战，以指导进一步研究。这些研究中获取的图像能够可视化胃肠道壁以及内部结构，表明通过蠕动实现充分的声学耦合是可能的。已识别出关键挑战，包括可视化水平和覆盖范围；在得出UCE技术的潜在临床应用结论之前，这些都需要进一步深入研究。
