A team of researchers at George Washington University has developed an ingestible pill camera that can be “driven” around the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The device is the first of its kind to offer real-time internal visibility that can be controlled, rather than relying on digestive processes to move the camera around.
More than 7 million Americans require an endoscopy every year. The procedure conventionally involves a long, flexible tube inserted via the patient’s throat while under anesthesia. This is an expensive, invasive task involving surgical facilities and multiple medical professionals. “Capsule endoscopies” involving ingestible cameras make the procedure a little easier: Patients don’t have to go under anesthesia and can instead go about their day after swallowing the pill. Still, doctors must rely on GI motility, or the body’s natural digestive process, to move the pill around.
George Washington University’s magnetically controlled capsule endoscopy (MCCE) device could change that. Made in collaboration with AnX Robotica, a medical technology company, NaviCam consists of a 27-millimeter capsule that houses a tiny 640x480p camera. Once a patient swallows NaviCam, they lie on a special examination bed with a large magnetic head. The patient’s doctor uses a pair of joysticks at a control console to generate a magnetic field that moves the capsule along a 5D plane (3D linear motion and 2D rotation motion). The camera meanwhile captures continuous video and still frames within a 160-degree field of view. When the procedure is over, NaviCam can pass through the patient’s digestive tract like a typical endoscopy capsule.
In a study published in iGIE, a doctor directed NaviCam to all major stomach problem sites in 40 patients with a 95% accuracy rate. The patients received conventional endoscopies later; 80% of the group stated they preferred the NaviCam method to the conventional one.
NaviCam is similar to a digestible device developed by MIT and the California Institute of Technology earlier this year. While both are externally controlled using a magnetic field, there’s a crucial difference between the two: MIT and Caltech’s pill doesn’t contain a camera. Instead, the strength or weakness of the magnetic field reveals where the pill sits within the body, allowing doctors to measure GI motility non-invasively.
NaviCam appears to incorporate the best of both worlds. Doctors can use the joysticks to direct NaviCam to a specific area of interest, and the process is far less invasive than a conventional endoscopy. This could eventually result in lower procedure fees, shorter wait periods, and an improved patient experience.
