New Changes

This is where we'll announce the most recent additions to our web site. If you've visited us before and want to know what's changed, take a look here first.

Colon Cancer Screening

For self pay and privately insured patients over 50 years of age via BMI Hospital Fawkham Manor we are now in position to offer interested patients access to colon cancer screening.  Patient's carry out the initial part of the screen in the privacy of their own home in the form of a faecal occult blood stool test which detects tiny amounts of blood.  If the test is positive they will then be offered a colonoscopy in order to detect bowel cancer and remove any polyps that are found.  If you are interested in being screened for bowel cancer please contact us at FMH in order to make an appointment. Contact details.  To watch an interactive colonoscopy tutorial to learn more about this procedure visit  www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/.

Small bowel video capsule endoscopy click here.   

Thanks to the generosity of local people making donations to the Darent Valley Hospital Cancer Fighting Fund this new and exciting way of examining the small bowel is now available for NHS and Private patients who are coming to us at Darent Valley from all over Kent.    

Our capsule endoscopy service has reached the final stages of the 2006 bestofhealth awards.

A capsule for examining the small bowel which transmits the images to a recorder worn around the waste.  An invaluable tool in the investigation of unexplained anaemia, suspected small bowel tumours and Crohn's disease.  

Crohn's Disease of the Small Bowel diagnosed by capsule endoscopy image from Given Website

Please note capsule endoscopy is not a screening or an "open access" test.  It is a highly specialized, time consuming, lengthy, invasive, expensive and specific test for looking at the small bowel only.  Because there is a real risk of complications such as capsule retention it can only be carried out at the request of a Consultant Gastroenterologist or Surgeon.  It is generally used to examine the small bowel of patients who have persistent anaemia due to intestinal bleeding requiring repeated blood transfusions after conventional tests such as gastroscopy and colonoscopy (click here to read about these) have failed to find a bleeding point.  Sometimes it is used to look at the small bowel of patients with coeliac disease or suspected Crohn's disease but only after conventional tests have been carried out and only if supported by the presence of abnormal blood tests.  If standard tests have been normal or the result is unlikely to alter the patient's treatment the procedure cannot be justified.  

It is absolutely not a test for patients with unexplained abdominal pain who have had normal test results and it in no way replaces conventional endoscopic tests such as gastroscopy and colonoscopy.  Prior to carrying out a capsule endoscopy one would usually expect a patient to have undergone both these endoscopic tests and a small bowel barium X ray study.  

However it is an invaluable tool in the investigation of the specific conditions above if used carefully.   So we are very pleased to be able to provide this test for patients who need it.  Thank you again to all those who were kind enough to make donations to the Darent Valley Hospital Cancer Fighting Fund.  

Current Research Trials Recruiting

ASPECT (Aspirin and Esomeprazole Chemoprevention Trial): A study examining the best way to prevent cancer of the lower oesophagus developping in patients with Barrett's Oesophagus (Columnar Lined Oesophagus). www.octo-oxford.org.uk/Trials/Aspect/Aspect.aspx

SOCS: Stomach and Oesophageal Cancer Study: To examine the genetic and environmental determinants of these cancers.

New Investigations Available

Bravo capsule ambulatory 48  hour pH monitoring click here.  This is now available for our patients via BMI Chelsfield and Fawkham.  This allows correct measurement of the acid in the oesophagus of patients with symptoms such as reflux or atypical chest pain without the need for a nasogastric tube being in position for the 48 hour period.  This means that patients can carry on with their usual activities and eat normally throughout the study period.