DENVER -- Imagine swallowing a pill that will take millions of pictures as it travels throughout your body. It's a technology that is making diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders much easier for both the patient and doctor.

John Howell's doctors are using this newer technology in hopes they will find the source of his bleeding.

With a sip of water, Howell swallows a pill but it's no ordinary pill. It's smaller than a pen cap but inside is a camera.

"This is the first non-invasive way we have of visualizing the small intestines," said Dr. Daniel Siegel with Rose Medical Center.

After it is swallowed the PillCam transmits nearly 50,000 images to a data recorder that the patient wears during an eight hour period. The images are then downloaded onto a computer and then doctors such as Siegel can then see if anything is wrong.

"Previously, it was very difficult to diagnose small intestinal disease," said Siegel. "There are 20 feet of small intestine and unfortunately CT scans, barium studies and endoscopy don't visualize all the intestines."

The pill camera allows doctors to see all the small intestines, making it much easier to diagnose small intestine disorders, including Crohn's disease, Celiac disease, unexplained bleeding and inflammatory bowel disease.

The camera can even find the exact location of tumors, cancerous or not.

"I have been surprised and amazed at the diseases we've been able to diagnose with the pill camera endoscopy," said Siegel.

As for Howell, the test didn't show any abnormalities. Several medical centers in Colorado provide the pill cam capsule endoscopy.

For more information, go to Pillcam.com.

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March 21, 2005: Revolutionary 'Pillcam' May Replace Endoscopy