What is Pill Camera Technology in the size of a capsule?

The vast and deep ocean of technology has no limits, and we are very fortunate to witness the wonders of the same, and these wonders keep on updating every passing moment. Therefore today I have come up with Pill Camera technology, a small droplet that makes up that huge ocean. So, let us try to understand this piece of technology in depth.

It is generally used in medical diagnosis and is also known as Capsule Endoscopy. The size of this capsule is somewhat similar to that of a Vitamin pill, but the interesting thing is that instead of chemicals this capsule consists of a tiny yet powerful camera and a combination of LED lights, all of which are supplied power with the aid of a battery. Whenever a human swallows this Pill camera capsule, it travels through the body of the person taking all the essential pictures, so this helps a lot to properly examine and find out a suitable remedy for the same disease, which would otherwise have been not possible and surgery would have been the only solution.

After being swallowed by humans, this pill travels through the gastrointestinal tract capturing a number of pictures each and every second and those pictures are sent wirelessly to a system of receivers attached to a device which carefully examines and displays all the data and then the concerned doctors and physicians deal with the same to bring out the best remedy for the patient.

It is currently used mostly for gastro related problems, but this technology is improving, modifying and expanding its area of work. And yes, the images of the areas captured by it is rather not possible to be captured or traced by any other type of diagnostic as of now, be it colonoscopy or even EGD (esophagogastroduodenoscopy), and so on. The reason for the same is that these other methods of diagnostics are entered directly inside the body of a patient from a natural opening, for example- mouth, so it could not reach the small intestine, unlike the Pill camera technology. 

It consists of the following parts:

LENS

The powerful lens takes all those essential and hard to reach shots which are then displayed on the receiver and examined by the experts, and yes it performs its duties well and good.

LED lights

These lights illuminate the area inside the human body so that the lens could capture all the important images with proper detail.

BATTERY

The battery is the source of all the magic performed by this beauty and is the powerhouse of the components present in it.

TRANSMITTER

It enables the easy and simple transfer of all the images captured by this capsule inside the body of the patient.

ANTENNA

It receives and transmits all the crucial signals and allows the doctors and physicians to examine the patient in the best way possible.

As of now, all of you must have got a very clear idea about this technology, so now, let us discuss its process. First of all, this Pill camera is inserted inside the body of the patient, and then it travels through the body of the patient and clicks all the pictures of the internal organs and other hard to reach parts, as it is of the size of a vitamin capsule, so it could trace most of the parts inside the human body. These images are then sent back to a sensor which the patient has to wear around his/her waist. Then, the antenna present in the belt records those pictures and displays it on the receiver. And finally, these images are examined by the team of doctors and professionals to come out with a feasible solution for the health-related issues of the patient. This pill is ejected out of the body of the patient within one to two days through excretion.

The major diseases which can be examined with the aid of this technology are as follows:

1. Malabsorption disorders
2. Ulcerative Colitis
3. Medication-related to small bowel disease
4. Crohn’s disease
5. Small intestine tumours and vascular disorders

Therefore, now it is the time for us to know about all the merits and demerits associated with it:

Advantages

1. The tiny size of this Pill enables it to travel and trace all the hard to reach parts of the small intestine and other internal organs.
2. The images captured by the camera are of very good quality.
3. This process causes no pain to the patient.
4. The power consumption is low and gives correct and precise results.

Disadvantages

1. The camera is very hard to control once it is inside the body.
2. Once it reaches the small intestine, then it may get blocked on its path if there is any restriction in its path, which would then make things a little uncomfortable.
3. The patients who are having a lot of issues related to digestion are not advised to go through this process as they are likely to have some restrictions to offer to this Pill when it reaches the small intestine.

Just like every coin has two outcomes, so does this process of technology also, though it has some drawbacks, we should also not forget that it has made something which was hard to imagine in the past completely possible, and all the patients who do not possess any of the above-mentioned issues are eligible to take this test and recover quickly. Thus, it was all about this article, I hope all of you might have found it useful.

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