In the future, getting screened for colon cancer may be as simple as taking a pill.

Researchers say they are encouraged by early results from an ongoing study comparing a pill-delivered imaging device with colonoscopy for detection of colon polyps and colon cancer screening. Colon polyps are growths that can become cancerous.

Similar imaging devices, called PillCams, are already being used to screen for esophageal and small intestine disease.

But it is not yet clear if the same technology will prove to be a useful tool for colon cancer screening.

The camera ‘pill’, which is the size of a large multivitamin, travels though the body capturing images along the way -- at a speed of four images per second in the case of the colon cam.

Pill-based endoscopy requires at least as much prep to clean out the colon as is needed with colonoscopy, but the actual test involves little more from the patient than swallowing a pill.