A New Device is

 

Broadcast: Jan 15, 2003
By Jerilyn Watson

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

Many millions of people around the world suffer from problems of the small intestine¹. Bleeding from abnormal growths and other disorders² affect an estimated nineteen-million people in the United States alone. But the problems have been difficult to identify because it is hard for doctors to examine this organ. Now, however, a new device is giving doctors a better look at the small intestine.

An Israeli company developed the Given Diagnostic2 System. It examines the stomach and small intestine. The manufacturer says about eight-hundred medical centers around the world now have this equipment.

The patient swallows a small device called the M2A imaging capsule. It is about the size of a normal medicine pill. The device contains an extremely small, color video camera. It passes through the patient's stomach and small intestine.

As it moves, the camera takes more than fifty-thousand pictures of these organs. A receiver around the patient's abdomen³ records the images. The camera works for about six to eight hours. Then it passes naturally out of the body. Patients do not have to stay in a hospital during the examination. Later, the video images are downloaded into a computer so the doctor can examine them and find any problems.

Several experts have praised this new medical tool to examine patients. They say it shows the small intestine better than X-rays or a method called endoscopy3 (en-DOS-co-py). Endoscopy uses a long thin tube with a small camera on the end. Doctors place the tube down a patient's throat all the way to the small intestine. The camera looks for growths or other problems. But endoscopes cannot reach all the way through the six meters of the small intestine. Endoscopy also requires medicine to ease pain or to put the patient to sleep. This examination must be done in a hospital.

Experts say the new M2A system does not cause the patient pain or bad side effects. However, the small camera can not take pictures of the whole large intestine. So it cannot replace an examination called colonoscopy. And, people who may have a blockage⁴ in their intestines⁵ cannot be tested with the new method.

This VOA Special English Health Report was written by Jerilyn Watson.
1. intestine [In5testIn] n. 肠
2. diagnostic [7daIE^5nCstIk] adj. 诊断的
3. endoscopy [en5dCskEpI] n. 内窥镜检查法

1 intestine   

adj.内部的；国内的；n.肠

参考例句：

• This vitamin is absorbed through the walls of the small intestine.这种维生素通过小肠壁被吸收。
• The service productivity is the function,including external efficiency,intestine efficiency and capacity efficiency.服务业的生产率是一个包含有外部效率、内部效率和能力效率的函数。

2 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

4 blockage   

n.障碍物；封锁

参考例句：

• The logical treatment is to remove this blockage.合理的治疗方法就是清除堵塞物。
• If the blockage worked,they could retreat with dignity.如果封锁发生作用，他们可以体面地撤退。

5 intestines   

n.肠( intestine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perhaps the most serious problems occur in the stomach and intestines. 最严重的问题或许出现在胃和肠里。 来自辞典例句
• The traps of carnivorous plants function a little like the stomachs and small intestines of animals. 食肉植物的捕蝇器起着动物的胃和小肠的作用。 来自辞典例句