Feb 05 2008
Camera Pill to revolutionise medical diagnosis
Feb 5: In what could be considered as a far reaching achievement in the diagnosis of the diseases, a camera pill was invented by the Scientist. The new pill with a miniature camera in it will help to identify the ailments related to stomach better than ever before. The pill was tested at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. A patient named Joannae Rossall aged 26 swallowed the pill and the images of her digestive system were obtained. She is suffering from stomach pain for the last two years.
The camera costs £300 and it is slightly bigger than the normal pill and it is capable of transmitting over 50,000 colour images to the special unit attached on a belt fitted outside the body that monitor the pills as it moves inside the body and it will take around eight hours. After accomplishing the purpose the camera pill passes through the body as waste.
Dr Mark McAlindon, the doctor who carried out the procedure said that: “This is a commendable achievement as it helps to get a clear picture of the small bowel. The main advantage of it is that we can see the full five plus metres of it. Doctors normally use endoscopes or barium X-rays to get a clear idea about the gastrointestinal problems. But the new camera pill can be effectively used to diagnose a wide range of problems linked with small intestine including Crohns Disease, Celtic disease and tumours.”
The camera pills can be used in patients who have already had stomach and large intestine examinations that show no symptoms and who doctors think may have a small intestine problem. The computer equipment and 10 pills that are only used once and pass naturally from the patient costs £30,000 and are paid by the Westfield Health Scheme in Sheffield.
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