NeoGuide Systems has announced that it received FDA 510(k) clearance to market the NeoGuide Endoscopy System. The system enhances physician control of the colonoscope and eliminates looping, the principle reason why conventional colonoscopy procedures are painful, time consuming and difficult.
In conventional colonoscopy, a flexible endoscope is inserted into the colon, which is essentially a flexible and highly tortuous tube. Advancing the colonoscope displaces the colon and stretches the surrounding tissue, a phenomenon known as looping.
Unlike conventional scopes, the NeoGuide colonoscope is built out of multiple segments that can be actively controlled. As the physician inserts the NeoGuide scope, the system automatically creates a 3-D map of the colon and then directs these segments to follow the path taken by the tip.