Health
Related: About this forumScientists are developing an x-ray pill you can swallow
Going to the doctor is rarely a pleasant experience. Beyond the sterile atmosphere and high prices (at least in the US), theres the poking, the prodding, the injecting, and the inserting. According to the American Cancer Society, everyone over the age of 50 should get a colonoscopy to be screened for colorectal cancer. But many shy away from the procedure that involves sticking a camera up somewhere things dont often go. However, a new product being developed might make checking for colon cancer as easy as swallowing a pill.
Check Cap, led by medical engineer Yoav Kimchy, has developed a pill that contains a small sensor that works like an X-ray machine, or the LIDAR detection system in Googles self-driving cars. A patient swallows the pill and when it gets to the colon, it emits a signal to determine how far it is from the colon wall. The signal is emitted in every direction, allowing the pill to map the entire inside of the colon. It sends the data to a wireless patch the patient slaps on their skin, which tracks the pills movement through their body. According to Check Cap, its about as harmful to the body as two airport body scans or one chest X-ray.
The pill is disposable and doesnt need to be retrieved once its done its job. The patient then gives the patch to their doctor, and in 10 minutes, theyll have a full 3D rendering of the patients colon. Doctors dont have to sit through footage of a camera snaking its way through someones coloninstead they can check the 3D model for irregularities as they would a CT scan. Kimchy told Quartz its much easier for doctors to use the map than try to, quite literally, sift through the junk: You dont see much inside murky water, Kimchy said.
Kimchy has been working on this technology for over a decade. He said his grandmother died of colon cancer at 48, and he still struggled to convince his father to go for a colonoscopy because of the awkwardness of the procedure, and the less-than-enjoyable preparation process.
more
http://qz.com/467119/scientists-are-developing-an-x-ray-pill-you-can-swallow/
Hope this works!
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)Eric J in MN
(35,619 posts)The article says, "According to Check Cap, its about as harmful to the body as two airport body scans or one chest X-ray."
But I wonder if that's based on correct assumptions. Maybe the risk is exponential when there is no distance between the source of the X-rays and the body.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)which depends on the strength of the x-rays and their energy (or how they interact with your cells). Without knowing how the whole thing works I can't guess at whether their numbers are reasonable. However the FDA tends to take radiation dosage pretty seriously, so it will get a good look.
A CAT scan has to be strong enough for the x-rays to go through your body. I don't know if the pill has to do that.
Peregrine Took
(7,417 posts)Not a good experience - got stuck in my lower esophagus as I didn't know I have a "twist" down there. Almost chocked to death.