Medic behind pill cameras devices wins national UK prize

Professor Mark McAlindon from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals has scooped the prestigious Hopkins Endoscopy Prize for his pill camera medical device

A Sheffield doctor who pioneered the use of a tiny pill camera medical device to detect problems in the intestine and stomach has won a national prize in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the field. The device transforms care by helping doctors diagnose illnesses by transmitting close-up images of the digestive tract,

Professor Mark McAlindon, a consultant gastroenterologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, received the prestigious British Society of Gastroenterology’s Hopkins Endoscopy Prize for leading the way in the development of capsule endoscopy.

The tiny, vitamin-sized pill contains a microchip inside which works a miniature camera to take pictures of the digestive tract as it journeys over an average eight-hour period through the body. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s gastroenterology centre was the first centre in the UK to use the technology in clinical practice.

Professor McAlindon said: “I am extremely honoured and humbled to have received this well-renowned award, which is further national recognition of Sheffield’s status as one of the leading endoscopic centres in the UK with one of the largest small bowel services in Europe. Although it is an individual award, I would like to acknowledge my appreciation of my fantastic colleagues at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and across the UK who have put in over 15 years’ work to continue to develop this groundbreaking technology for the benefit of patients. This team includes Dr Reena Sidhu, who remarkably won the prize in 2012 before becoming a consultant, making Sheffield the only centre in the country to have won the award twice.”

Professor David Sanders, a consultant gastroenterologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, added: “Sheffield are unique in being the only centre in the UK to have won this prestigious prize twice and this reflects that high standards of endoscopy and endoscopic innovation from our Trust. It further reinforces our status as a premier UK centre for gastroenterology.”

Professor Mark McAlindon and the team from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust first tested the use of pill cameras in the small intestine and the large intestine (colon). The technique was then expanded to be used to examine the whole intestine (panenteric capsule endoscopy) – eliminating the need for conventional fiberoptic endoscopy, a sometimes uncomfortable test requiring sedation.