It is safe to say that owners, trainers and veterinarians alike would probably jump at the prospect of being able to see inside the deepest regions of living horses’ systems in order to identify and diagnose issues. That possibility has taken a big step forward thanks to a recent collaboration by members of the University of Saskatchewan.

As an article by horsetalk.co.nz explains, the collaboration involved veterinary and engineering minds from the University of Saskatchewan. The result was a vitamin-sized endoscopy capsule that carries a camera.

The ‘mini submarine’ can be tubed into a horse’s stomach. It then has the ability to transmit video footage of its journey as is travels through the small intestine. The article states that when the team deployed the camera into the horse, it transmitted video – real-time, for the most part – during what was an eight-hour journey.

The article states that the ‘camera pill’ is the only way to examine the inside of the small intestine without conducting exploratory surgery or going the laparoscopy route.

The CBC has also profiled the breakthrough, which was achieved via the work of U of S vet researcher Dr. Julia Montgomery, an equine surgeon by the name of Dr. Joe Bracamonte, and a member of the College of Engineering named Khan Wahid, who specializes in imaging and informatics.

The CBC piece states that the team captured enough video and images to allow them to map out the horse’s stomach and small intestine, which is now a first.

Wahid has said that improvements can be made to the camera pill, including a better antenna and a better camera.

"A multiview camera or a camera on both sides of the capsule would be something wonderful for a horse," Wahid was quoted as saying. "We could see a whole 360-degree view of the intestine while [it’s] passing through the gut, so that would be something wonderful."

The horsetalk.co.nz piece states that the camera pill could be a new powerful tool to briefly monitor surgical locations, check on how medications are working, or to detect issues relating to cancer or inflammatory bowel disease.

(With files from horsetalk.co.nz and the CBC)