VIDEO: Firefighters in Frederick County, Maryland, were offered testing Monday for early signs of esophageal cancer using a new medical device that can be swallowed like a large pill and then recovered from the stomach using an attached tube.
The capsule contains a small balloon that is inflated through the tube by a technician as the device is withdrawn from the stomach. Cells captured on the balloon's surface can then be laboratory screened to see if there is any sign of esophageal cancer. "It was mildly invasive, but to find out if I would need to receive treatment early, that mild inconvenience was nothing compared to what I could face," said Frederick County Fire/Rescue Chief Tom Coe, after taking the test.
The capsule is provided by Lucid Diagnostics, which developed the device.