Will the unpleasant bowel enema and invasive endoscopy soon be obsolete thanks to imec's sensor pill from Leuven?
A gastrointestinal health check traditionally involves an onerous preparation process, and the examination itself is quite invasive too. Imec's ingestible miniature sensor pill, recently successfully demonstrated live, offers the prospect of a revolution.
Our digestive system largely determines our health. The trouble is, the system is inaccessible and complex and, as a result, difficult to monitor. Gastrointestinal diseases are currently detected by means of an endoscopy, colonoscopy or video capsule. However, these only provide a snapshot in time, still require a preparatory diet or laxatives, and do not measure the chemical environment in the gut.
The ingestible sensor pill is barely 2.1 cm long by 0.75 cm wide and travels through the digestive system for several days, taking measurements of acidity and temperature in the stomach and intestines every 20 seconds or so. An energy-efficient radio transmitter and antenna transmit data in true time to a monitor along the way. This allows potentially inflammatory bowel diseases and cancers to be diagnosed and followed up more efficiently.
While it is still a prototype for now, developed by OnePlanet Research Center, a multidisciplinary partnership between the Flemish nanotechnology player imec and the Dutch universities of Wageningen and Radboud, it may soon be a user-friendly pill that patients can simply take at home each week.