Dr. Ira Schmelkin
WESTFIELD – Small community hospitals in western Massachusetts aren’t usually where you go to undergo a procedure only a handful of other American institutions are performing.
But that’s not the case for Westfield’s Noble Hospital, where Dr. Ira Schmelkin, the head of the hospital’s gastroenterology department, has begun utilizing a technological breakthrough known as the PillCam Colon, a small capsule equipped with cameras, to perform more complete colonoscopies and to diagnose other digestive issues.
PillCam Colon is an easy-to-swallow capsule that does not require sedation or radiation, allowing a patient to go about their daily routine throughout the procedure.
The disposable capsule moves naturally through your digestive system, capturing and wirelessly transmitting images of the colon to a recorder worn around the patient’s waist. The capsule is passed with a bowel movement and does not need to be retrieved to collect the images from the exam.
Noble is one of ten hospitals across the country utilizing this technology, along with most notably Philadelphia’s Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, where Schmelkin began his medical career.
He has since worked in private practice in Great Neck, New York and as Chief of the Gastroenterology Division of Berkshire Medical Center prior to his arrival at Noble.
Schmelkin said that the hospital has been performing thr procedure for a few weeks.
“When one does a colonoscopy, the gold standard is the colonoscope and the reason is because you see things directly,” said Schmelkin of how gastroenterologists look for polyps and cancerous growths.
“In approximately four percent of patients who undergo a colonoscopy, for whatever reason – they have a kink in the intestine, they’re too twisted, they’re not tolerating the procedure – you can’t see all of the colon,” explained Schmelkin of what is known as an ‘incomplete colonoscopy’ a situation in which the PillCam Colon comes most in handy.
Prior to the advent of this technology, patients with incomplete colonoscopies had no choice but to undergo barium enema’s with a radiologist or a virtual colonoscopy involving a CAT scan and although these procedures are fairly accurate according to Schmelkin, seeing the inside of a patient’s entire colon is the only way to be certain about the presence (or lack thereof) of polyps or growths.
“In February of this year, the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) approved the PillCam Colon for colonoscopies,” he said. “Comparing the results of the pillcam with a barium enema or the virtual colonoscopy, the PillCam Colon is at least twice as good.”
The reason for the technology’s arrival at Noble Hospital has more than a little to do with Schmelkin’s past work as a consultant for Given Imaging, the company which patented and produces the PillCam Colon, and which was recently purchased by healthcare product giant Covidien.
“They didn’t want everybody doing this (procedure) and they wanted a slow, limited rollout,” said Schmelkin of Given Imaging’s planned trajectory for the PillCam Colon.“
Schmelkin added that the PillCam Colon is not the first camera capsule to hit the marketplace. A small bowel capsule arriving in 2001, the year Schmelkin began working with Given Imaging.
As to how much the procedure will cost a patient, Schmelkin said the capsule itself costs $650 and that insurance companies aren’t covering costs at the moment.
“I don’t know what we’ll be charging, but I’ll also be working with insurance companies to put these claims in, to try and come up with reimbursement policies,” he said. “It’s probably going to be cheaper than a colonoscopy, but I don’t have any of the numbers on that.”
Schmelkin said he has several patients lined up to try the PillCam Colon.
“It’s exciting and it’s great to be part of a new, cutting-edge technology. It’s a really neat device.” he said. “So far, so good.”
