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Pill Camera
Pill cam
About cam
The camera is only 18mm long and 6.35mm in diameter. The pill cam, is used to avoid traditional standard endoscopy. Endoscopy is a diagnostic medical procedure that is used to access the interior surface of an organ by inserting a long tube into the body. It is mainly used to detect esophagul cancer and other diseases related to stomach. Endoscopy is a painful procedure and patient requires sedation. Using pill cam physicians can detect the disease without any painful procedure like endoscopy.
When a person is going to take the pill camera test ,he has to fast 10 hours before going to the doctor early in the morning. At the moment, the doctor activates the camera and gives it to the patient who swallows it with a glass of water and, then gives them a receiver to attach to their belt. They are only allowed to drink water for 2-4 hours after they take the pill. Then return the wireless receiver to the doctor and the camera is disposable from the body.
How it works?
Inner structure of a Pill cam
PC based work station is pre-installed with RAPID software. It offers physicians a user-friendly for viewing and interpreting images captured by a pill cam. A data recorder is used here which is a small portable recording device that receives signals via a sensor array that are transmitted by a pill cam as it passes through the GI tract. This data recorder is attached to the belt worn by the patient. In January 2006 the company launched most advanced data recorder with added storage capacity.
Advantages
A pill camera can be easily swallowed. It provides doctors more detailed images and the entire digestive track not visible by other techniques and records 870,000 images. Harmless to the patient and easier than a endoscopy and it include the avoidance of standard endoscopy . The patient can continue their everyday life once he/she has successfully swallowed the pill cam and no sedation is necessary for Capsule Endoscopy. doctors can steer the images of the internal body as they wish. doctors can reexamine the images again and again.
Disadvantages .
Pill camera is very expensive. Sometimes the camera could get stuck in the patients small intestine but this usually means that there is something wrong in the intestines and it requires surgery to remove the camera and fix the problem. doctors have no control over its path .It only allow a single fly-by view. it cannot be reused because it completes its voyage through the digestive system. Due to its small size, the camera can capture an image of only about 70 percent of the digestive tract.
Future Innovations
Scientists hope a future version of the camera pill will repair gut problems as well as spot them!
The scientific community at the University of Washington is currently developing a pill-sized camera which would travel through the body looking for signs of disease.
The researchers are negotiating a contract to commercialise the technology. They hope to not only take pictures, but also deliver treatments through the device in future.
In the future it hope to not only take pictures, but also deliver treatments through the device, and to apply it to other diseases.
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