The possibility of a remote controlled PillCam somewhere in the future is there, as the company manufacturing the PillCam, Given Imaging, is currently working with a few German institutions to develop technology that will be able to control both the position and speed of transit of its devices. For more knowledge, check out what the brainacs have to say about it below.

In collaboration with engineers from the manufacturer Given Imaging, the Israelite Hospital in Hamburg and the Royal Imperial College in London, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering in Sankt Ingbert have developed the first-ever control system for the camera pill. “In future, doctors will be able to stop the camera in the esophagus, move it up and down and turn it, and thus adjust the angle of the camera as called for,” says IBMT team leader Dr. Frank Volke. “that allows them to build a

precise examination of the junction amoung the esophagus and the stomach, for whether the cardiac sphincter is not functioning properly, gastric acid comes up the esophagus and causes heartburn. In the expanded term, that may even cause cancer of the esophagus. Now, with the camera, we can even scan the stomach walls.” But how do the researchers manage to steer the disposable camera inside the body? “We have developed a magnetic device roughly the size of a bar of chocolate. The doctor can hold it in his hand during the examination and move it up and down the patient’s body. The camera inside chases that motion precisely,” says Volke.

A medical video game of sorts, it sounds like it.

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Orginal post by Rick Broida