Introducing the Pill Cam! Brought to you by Given Imaging , this little bugger floats through your gastro system, taking snapshots of your intestines, and sending the images back to a device you can wear on your chest or belt, and turn in the device to your physician for further examination. This pill-cam is already in use in over 80 countries, and the FDA finally approved it for use here in the United States.
The hardware involved is:
Two Energizer 399 1.55V, 54-mAhr silver-oxide coin cells
One Aptina CMOS image sensor
Four LEDs on each end of the pill
One microelectricomechanical system switch
The software involved is:
RAPID Reader v8
This is great technology because it's bridging the gap between macro-tech and nano-tech. We're able to ingest technology now, and send it through our digestive system. It's sort of like sending a satellite into outer space, or a submarine down into the depths of the Mariana's Trench. Sure we can observe and study our intestines with other methods, but this is right up close and personal. It gives us a much better perspective, it even allows us to visually experience the path that food or medication might take through our system. We might be able to discover more unknown behaviors of the human body this way than in studying static images and data.
Future applications for this technology could include delivery of medication directly to the site of the problem, instead of putting the whole body through the stress of delivering the medication, and recruiting more organ systems than necessary. I imagine this same pill with a remotely controllable cap or delivery system. I imagine this pill technology getting smaller and smaller, to the nano level we've been dreaming of, and battling with cells of all types at the cellular level.
Sources:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/04/fda-approves-pillcam-colon-colonoscopy/
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/default.htm
Pillcam Colon 2 Technical Specs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RF_MEMS
PillCam Software
The hardware involved is:
Two Energizer 399 1.55V, 54-mAhr silver-oxide coin cells
One Aptina CMOS image sensor
Four LEDs on each end of the pill
One microelectricomechanical system switch
The software involved is:
RAPID Reader v8
This is great technology because it's bridging the gap between macro-tech and nano-tech. We're able to ingest technology now, and send it through our digestive system. It's sort of like sending a satellite into outer space, or a submarine down into the depths of the Mariana's Trench. Sure we can observe and study our intestines with other methods, but this is right up close and personal. It gives us a much better perspective, it even allows us to visually experience the path that food or medication might take through our system. We might be able to discover more unknown behaviors of the human body this way than in studying static images and data.
Future applications for this technology could include delivery of medication directly to the site of the problem, instead of putting the whole body through the stress of delivering the medication, and recruiting more organ systems than necessary. I imagine this same pill with a remotely controllable cap or delivery system. I imagine this pill technology getting smaller and smaller, to the nano level we've been dreaming of, and battling with cells of all types at the cellular level.
Sources:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/04/fda-approves-pillcam-colon-colonoscopy/
http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/default.htm
Pillcam Colon 2 Technical Specs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RF_MEMS
PillCam Software
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