Diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders is an uncomfortable process. It might involve sticking a long tube with a camera attached down a patient’s throat, or inserting a small catheter through a patient’s nostril.
A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the California Institute of Technology, and New York University, looking to explore more comfortable options, has designed an ingestible device that doctors can monitor as it moves through the GI tract.
In a paper published by Nature Electronics on Monday, the researchers lay out their case for using their ingestible device in diagnosing GI disorders like constipation or acid reflux. In tests on pigs, the researchers proved that the device’s location measurements are similarly reliable to those of an X-ray. The hope is the device will allow doctors, armed with the exact location of a GI tract disruption, to better target care — and give patients a diagnostic option they can use at home.
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