An in ordinate amount of my “Free
Posts” have been about cool inventions that fix problems in the body mainly
though putting things into patients. But that is only part of the job of a
biomedical engineer another big part is making it easier to spot these
problems. That is why for this free post I will be talking about a pill. Only this
isn’t a pill with medicine in it. It is a camera.
This
idea of swallowing a camera was made to screen for esophageal cancer. There are
2 different versions of this design. There are regular pills that can take fly
by shots and is then passed through the body. The other method is a little bit
more invasive. In the second method the pill is tethered so a doctor can move
it up and down to get a better view of target areas. The first patient who had this method tested
on said that it “felt like swallowing a regular pill” (Camera In A Pill Offers
Cheaper, Easier Window On Your Insides). The test subject swallowed the camera and
the tether did not bother him. By using this screening technique patients don’t
have to undergo anesthesia for esophageal cancer screening. This is because
previously the screening techniques used were much more invasive and couldn’t be
conducted easily on a conscious patient.
One of
the reasons I like doing this blog is because I like reading about really cool
inventions. This is definitely an example of something I think is really cool. I
think that this is a great example of one way that biomedical engineers have
made the healthcare field better. There are a lot of problems that I have heard
about in dealing with anesthesia and people can be very scared of being put
under. So a process that can do the same things without the need for anesthesia
sounds like a good step forward to me. I wonder if down the road it would ever
be made practical to do surgeries without total anesthesia. The idea of being
awake while surgery is being performed is scary to me, I am just wondering if
science could make that happen at some point.
Work Cited
"Camera In A Pill Offers Cheaper, Easier Window On Your Insides."ScienceDaily. University of Washington. 25 Jan. 2008. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Camera pill you describe above is very cool that you talked about 2 different versions of the camera design. The technology is so amazing that it helps the doctors to better observe the patient's condition. Also, reading cool inventions related to your field can give you more information and knowledge. Very good!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting idea of a camera pill. The only question I have is how effective or accurate is this camera? Are these pills expensive as well? If so, shouldn't they be able to diagnose accurately. When using one of these to diagnose a serious illness, would it be more ideal to get a full screening to ensure if the diagnosis is correct.
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