# Omniview tethered capsule for low cost, non-endoscopic Barrett's esophagus screening in unsedated patients

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY · 2020 · $336,293

## Abstract

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is among the most lethal malignancies with a 19% five-year survival rate
and its incidence has increased several fold in the last decades. Barrett’s esophagus (BE) confers elevated risk
for progression to EAC. Patients diagnosed with BE undergo periodic surveillance endoscopy with biopsies to
detect dysplasia which can be treated by endoscopic eradication with radiofrequency ablation before it
progresses to EAC. However, the majority of diagnosed EAC patients have not had prior screening endoscopy
and present with advanced lesions that limit treatment options and result in poorer survival. The development of
a rapid, low cost, well tolerated, non-endoscopic BE screening technique that can be performed in unsedated
patients at points of care outside the endoscopy suite would improve BE detection and reduce EAC morbidity
and mortality. Our program is a multidisciplinary collaboration among investigators at the Massachusetts Institute
Technology and Veteran Affairs Boston Healthcare System / Harvard Medical School that integrates novel optical
imaging and software design, preclinical studies in swine, clinical studies in patients, and advanced image
processing / machine learning. Aim 1 will develop an omniview tethered capsule technology that generates a
map of the esophageal mucosa over a multi-centimeter length of esophagus and a series of wide angle forward
views to aid navigation as the capsule is swallowed or retracted. The images will resemble endoscopic white
light or narrow band imaging, but will not suffer from perspective distortion present in standard endoscopic or
video capsule images. This will facilitate development of automated BE detection algorithms as well as enhance
their sensitivity and specificity. This aim will also perform imaging studies in swine as a translational step toward
clinical studies. Aim 2 will determine reader sensitivity and specificity for BE detection versus standard
endoscopy / biopsy and prepare data for developing automated BE detection. Patients undergoing screening as
well as with history of BE undergoing surveillance will be recruited and unsedated capsule imaging will be
performed on the same day prior to their endoscopy. Sensitivity and specificity for detecting BE will be assessed
using multiple blinded readers and data sets suitable for developing automated BE detection algorithms will be
developed. Aim 3 will develop image analysis methods for automated BE detection by investigating classifiers
that operate on handcrafted features (colors and textures) and modern deep convolutional neural network
methods for direct classification. If successful, this program will develop a rapid, low cost and scalable method
for BE screening that would not require patient sedation, endoscopy, or tissue acquisition, and which could be
performed in community primary care clinics. The procedure would be much faster and many times lower cost
than endoscopy. Automated BE detection would ena...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10033192
- **Project number:** 1R01CA252216-01
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
- **Principal Investigator:** JAMES G FUJIMOTO
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $336,293
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-06 → 2023-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10033192

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10033192, Omniview tethered capsule for low cost, non-endoscopic Barrett's esophagus screening in unsedated patients (1R01CA252216-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10033192. Licensed CC0.

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