Swallowable medical devices for diagnosis and surgery: The state of the art

Abstract

The first wireless camera pills created a revolutionary new perspective for engineers and physicians, demonstrating for the first time the feasibility of achieving medical objectives deep within the human body from a swallowable, wireless platform. The approximately 10 years since the first camera pill has been a period of great innovation in swallowable medical devices. Many modules and integrated systems have been devised to enable and enhance the diagnostic and even robotic capabilities of capsules working within the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This article begins by reviewing the motivation and challenges of creating devices to work in the narrow, winding, and often inhospitable GI environment. Then the basic modules of modern swallowable wireless capsular devices are described, and the state of the art in each is discussed. This article is concluded with a perspective on the future potential of swallowable medical devices to enable advanced diagnostics beyond the capability of human visual perception, and even to directly deliver surgical tools and therapy non-invasively to interventional sites deep within the GI tract.

Mini and Micro Propulsion for Medical Swimmers

“…In the meantime, as opposed to the above active swimmers, there have been passive swimmers. For example, the PillCam (commercialized by Given Imaging, Inc., Yoqneam, Israel) of tens millimeters could travel through the gastrointestinal tract and take pictures [15]. However, this did not have a self-propelling system but its motion was generated by the muscle contraction of the human/animal body.…”

An advanced physiological data logger for medical imaging applications

“…The proposed data logger is generic that encompasses many different medical applications such as ECG, heartbeat, capsule endoscopy, blood pressure, etc. In this study, we have implemented the firmware for capsule endoscopy application [6].…”

“…The design of the data logger is general and can be used for several medical applications. In this article, the prototype is demonstrated for video wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) [6] and skin temperature logging application.…”

Inductive-Based Wireless Power Recharging System for an Innovative Endoscopic Capsule

“…The main advantage is that capsule endoscopy is typically well accepted by patients and, as demonstrated by studies, is painless [1,2]. However, commercially available pills are limited to screening and are purely passive devices that rely on peristalsis for the propulsion onto important medical target areas, such as the esophagus, stomach, small bowel and colon.…”