The Cath-Cam: a new concept in colonoscopy

Guidewires and catheters exert less force on the gut wall than an endoscope.

To develop a guidewire-assisted device for colonoscopy.

A light-weight flexible catheter illuminated with light-emitting diodes was designed to carry an ultraslim high-resolution videoendoscope of 3 mm. Tip bend stiffness was 5 times less than a colonoscope. Hinged guidewires were passed, folded, through the accessory channel. A loop could be rapidly formed to explore the lumen.

The catheter followed curves of excised pig colon and exerted significantly less force on the colon wall than a colonoscope (mean 1.6 +/- 0.23 N vs 3.0 +/- 0.37 N, P < .05; bend-radius, 80 mm). Survival studies in pigs showed that the guidewire loop could be advanced under visual control and the Cath-Cam could be advanced by using much less force than the colonoscope.

A catheter-based colonoscope with a miniature video imager reduced the force required for successful colonoscopy in pigs.