Ching had undergone a variety of tests — including two endoscopies and one colonoscopy — without learning the cause of occasional bouts of pain bad enough to send her to the emergency room. Shortly before she had the test, she passed out at an airport on a business trip.

"They still hadn't been able to find out why I was having this pain," she said. "They thought I was just reacting to stress in my life."

Yesterday, specialists at The Queen's Medical Center showed off the new technology with Ching's help. Queen's medical director of gastroenterology, Dr. James Grobe, said Ching was the first patient in Honolulu to get the procedure, which is called capsule endoscopy.

Ching saw the video of her intestines for the first time yesterday. Watching the camera's images conjures up the 1966 science fiction movie "Fantastic Voyage." In that film, scientists shrink themselves to miniature size to journey into the body of a man whose life they are trying to save.

"This is kind of a 'Fantastic Voyage' through the small bowel," DiPalma said. "It would not have been found any other way."

After the test indicated she had cancer of the lymph nodes, Ching said, a biopsy confirmed that diagnosis and she underwent chemotherapy treatments for four months and has been cancer-free since then. Ching, 42, an attorney, and her husband and two daughters live in Kailua.

DiPalma said the new test can sometimes replace more invasive diagnostic tests needed for people who suffer from digestive problems such as bleeding, gall stones, polyps, Crohn's disease and some forms of cancer.

At Queen's, 30 patients have used the new technique since November, Grobe said. That number is expected to increase as more doctors are being trained. The company that sells the camera said 122,000 patients worldwide have used the technique since 2001.

The Given Imaging Web site indicates that a Kailua, Kona, doctor on the Big Island is using the technology. Pat Oda, a spokeswoman for Hawai'i Pacific Health, said Kapi'olani Medical Center at Pali Momi is looking at the capsule technology now. At Straub Clinic and Hospital, Oda said, doctors are using other advanced technology to deal with gastrointestinal illnesses.

The pill evolved from an Israeli-based missile technology that transmits images back to a base station before a missile hits a target, DiPalma said.

DiPalma said the procedure is now covered by most health insurance, including Medicare, and generally costs the patient between $800 and $1,800.

He said the pill camera costs about $450. He said they are not reused, although one Queen's patient brought one back to the hospital after it passed through her gastrointestinal tract.

Ching said people do ask her if she knows what happened to the camera. "I didn't go looking for it," she said. "I'm assuming everything came out all right."