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Painless GI

N.N.Sachitanand

In a pioneering technique for the examination of the gastro-intestinal tract, patients swallow a tiny capsule loaded with sensors that transmits information about the digestive system to receivers outside the body.

The current methods of examining the Gastro-Intestinal (GI ) tract such as Endoscopy , Antral and Duodenal Manometry, Radiological Imaging and Gastric Emptying Scintigraphy have significant disadvantages. Patient anxiety and discomfort due to insertion of tubes is high. There is also exposure to harmful radiation and significant physician and patient time commitment is required.

Now a Buffalo, N.Y. — based startup, SmartPill Corporation, has come up with the SmartPill GI Monitoring System which tremendously eases GI tract examination. It also makes it more accurate and has none of the handicaps associated with conventional methods.

In this system, all the patient has to do is ingest a small capsule, about the size of a large vitamin pill. It weighs little more than 3 grams and is encased in an inert medical-grade polycarbonate that is safe for human consumption and easy to swallow. This capsule is a miniaturised disposable telemetry device. Inside the capsule are the data transmitter, three sensing elements (pressure, temperature and pH), and a battery chamber housing the power source.

The travelling capsule

The capsule passes through the intestines by peristalsis or the normal rhythmic contraction of the intestinal muscles and is capable of transmitting data continuously for 72 hours. The single-use capsule is excreted naturally from the body within a day or two without pain or discomfort. As the capsule passes through the GI tract, it transmits data over very low power RF carrier frequencies to the SmartPill Data Receiver, a small, light-weight, battery powered device that contains wireless data receivers and mobile data storage facilities.

The SmartPill Data Receiver receives and demodulates the RF signal from the capsule through a single integrated antenna. Its receiver sensitivity is sufficient to be worn on the patient's belt or on a lanyard, or placed on a nearby table.

The patient is free to carry on other activities during the transit time of the capsule, which may last up to 72 hours. During this period, the SmartPill Data Receiver records and stores pressure, temperature and pH measurement data, and elapsed and real time. After this outpatient exploratory examination is completed, the patient returns the SmartPill Data Receiver to the physician who places it in the SmartPill Data Receiver Docking Station to download captured data to a PC. The data analysis can be performed at the convenience of the physician. According to a recent company press release, the SmartPill ACT-I/pH.p Capsule is in clinical trials at five leading GI Motility Centres in the U.S. Pending FDA approval, it will be released to the market in the 4th quarter of 2005.

Meanwhile, a second generation SmartPill GI Monitoring System is currently under development. It will enable real-time, site-specific tracking of the capsule position within the GI tract. The software will also be capable of discriminating multiple capsules and tracking them simultaneously as they transit the patient's bowel, repeatedly mapping or monitoring the entire GI tract. The system will also provide gastroenterologists and researchers real-time diagrams of the patient's alimentary tract.