Wireless Thermal Capsule Endoscopy: A Bowel Preparation Free, Sedation Free, Outpatient Alternative to Colonoscopy
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magley-dmagley-phd-hst-2026-thesis.pdf
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Author(s)
Magley, Daniel Lewis
Advisor(s)
Tearney, Guillermo J.
Date Issued
February 2026
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
In this work I propose Wireless Thermal Capsule Endoscopy (WTCE) as an outpatient, bowel preparation free, and sedation free alternative to gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy. Colonoscopy is the gold standard for Colorectal Cancer (CRC) screening, while Ileocolonoscopy and Wireless Video Capsule Endoscopy (WVCE) are gold standards for evaluating Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). However, these endoscopy methods are limited to visualizing only the luminal surface, while pathology can originate and be obscured deeper inside the bowel wall. Meanwhile, increased cellular activity at sites of inflammation and malignancy produces heat that readily conducts through both tissue and bowel contents. I propose using a WTCE system to detect and quantitatively measure metabolic activity at sites of pathology. I develop custom thermal infrared endoscopes and use them to image in vivo an established 2,4,6-Trinitrobenzene Sulfonic Acid (TNBS) chronic colitis swine model (n=2). The study showed long continuous regions of luminal temperature rise in areas of colitis inflammation confirmed by histology. To investigate localized inflammation thermal profiles, I performed a novel in vivo swine model (n=6) for acute localized GI inflammation using Escherichia coli (E. Coli) Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) bowel wall injections. The LPS model was successful in the ileocolonic region with temperature rises of 0.68-1.14 °C versus control untreated regions (P=0.024). Guided by the inflammation study results, I designed a high thermal sensitivity WTCE system and performed benchtop safety and efficacy testing adapted from FDA accepted WVCE testing protocols. To register pathology location and morphology, I developed a position tracking swine model dataset and algorithms for tracking capsule position while requiring no additional hardware to current WVCE systems. I validated the final device using an in vivo healthy swine model (n=2) and demonstrated a strong correlation between both luminal temperature rise measured through fecal contents and CD45 Immunohistochemistry of the bowel wall (PCC = 0.74-0.81). Using the final WTCE system, I demonstrate first-in-human studies (n=5) to thermally image full human gastrointestinal tracts and reconstruct 3-dimensional gastrointestinal anatomy of the entire human GI tract. The end WTCE device has potential to increase sensitivity, image the entire GI tract, and improve patient experience by requiring no bowel preparation or sedation for routine IBD monitoring and CRC screening.
MIT Department
Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology
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