A Diagnosis That You Can Swallow
Posted February 1, 2002
In 1966, science fiction guru Isaac Asimov wrote the book Fantastic Voyage in conjunction with the film of the same name. The story involved a team of scientists that
were shrunken to a microscopic level and traveled in a submarine through a patient's veins in search of a deadly blood clot.
Recently, a group of scientists from Israel developed a new technique that is very similar to the Fantastic Voyage concept. Israel's Given Imaging Company has developed
a small pill-sized camera that patients can swallow. This "video pill" is about an inch long and about a half-inch wide. It is equipped with a video camera, light, and transmitter
that sends pictures of the patient's anatomy to a data recorder worn by the patient.
The video pill is called a Capsule Endoscope and takes thousands of color pictures of the patient's intestines and digestive system over the course of a couple days.
It can be used to diagnose various problems of the digestive system and also keep an eye on recurring problems, such as ulcers.
The pill is coated to move through the body with ease, while being resistant to the caustic digestive juices of the human body. After taking thousands of pictures,
the pill will be passed completely through the system between 8 and 72 hours.
Before this video pill was developed, doctors could only view the inside of a patient's body with radiation techniques like X-rays, CAT scans, and MRIs. They could
also use colonoscopy equipment, which uses fiber optics to look into the lower intestine. The advantage of using the video pill is that it will move through the entire system of the
patient, taking pictures throughout.
The video pill has been used worldwide and was approved for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration in August 2001. There are some restrictions
on who can use the pill. People with cardiac pacemakers or other electronic devices in their body should not use the video pill, as it may interfere with these life-saving instruments.
Also, patients with intestinal blockages, unusually small intestines, or other intestinal abnormalities cannot use the device.
Approximately 3,000 video pills have been used by patients worldwide. Still, most insurance companies in the United States will not cover the $2,000 cost of each pill.
Activity
Use the Internet to research how doctors look into the human body. In your Science Journal, write a science fiction story about the video pill and how it can
be used in a beneficial way.
References
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