An Ingestible Electronic Pills – A new attempt to consume technology
An Ingestible Electronic Pills – A new attempt to consume technology
Technology has conquered many domains and it has prominent territories in all the field especially in health and medicine. Technology has not reached a far extent because of its endurance. It had also begun its new journey to the inner parts of the body in the form of pills ie Electronic Pills or E-Pills. Will you dare to swallow? How does it taste even better than normal ones? Will I be choked to death while attempting to consume it? Our body is precious. It is sensitive to changes and responds accordingly.
When we are sick, we go to doctors and they do the required checkup and cure us of our sickness. But sometimes doctors can’t easily detect the diseases and thus becomes too late to cure it. This is where Electronic Pills Necessity arises, these pills help us detect diseases and takes sudden action against it. The hassle of taking medication every day could someday be eliminated, thanks to an ingestible electronic pill that lasts in the stomach for close to a month and releases medication only when necessary.
How Electronic pills have started?
At first, Electronic Pills was developed by Professor John Cooper and Dr Eric Johannessen from Glasgow University, in the year 1972. Basically, an electronic pill is a multichannel sensor used for remote biomedical measurements in the body. They can specifically deliver drugs to certain parts of the body to target different types of cancer, stimulate damaged tissues, track gastric problems, and measure biomarkers.
A research team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed the capsule, which could be designed to treat a variety of diseases and disorders and also enables physicians to monitor and control dosages using Bluetooth wireless technology and sensors. The major problem for patients is that they do not always adhere to their medication regime, particularly when they begin to start feeling better so that this technology really enabled the oral delivery of systems that can stay in the stomach for long periods of time and safely.
Parts and Manufacturing of Electronic pills
In order to carry out the functions of the E-Pill, it is powered by a battery and equipped with the appropriate sensors. The researchers used a multi-material 3D printing technique that enables them to incorporate certain materials that are flexible. The battery is built to be edible yet it is expected to act as a conventional electronic battery. It is important that the materials used are not toxic to humans as it can cause significant complications if it gets into the digestive tract.
Measurement parameters of electronic pills include temperature analysis, pH measurements, conductivity, and dissolved oxygen. And they can also capture images and send them into a system. Along with being customized to deliver drugs, the capsule can include sensors that can alert doctors and patients of vital conditions and can transmit information and respond to instructions from a smartphone.
The database from Electronic pills
Electronic pills are swallowable which has a 16mm diameter, a length of 55mm and 5gram weight. This pill is covered by chemically resistant polyether-ketone (PEEK) coating. When it moves through the gastro-intestinal tract it starts to detect diseases and abnormalities.
A small electronic pill can easily reach areas such as the small intestine and large intestine and can deliver real-time information to an external system. Total information will be displayed on a monitor. The electronic pill travels to the digestive system, collects data and sends it into the computer with a distance of 1 meter and more. The main parts of electronic pills are four sensors, an ASIC chip, a radio transmitter, and a power source.
Database of Chronic Illness
These electronic pills could perform functions like targeted drug delivery for certain types of cancer, stimulate damaged tissue, measure biomarkers or monitor gastric problems. But before these pills are actually possible, an edible power source is needed to charge the pills. Currently, the device is powered by a small silver oxide battery. However, the researchers are currently exploring using alternative power sources like an external antenna or even stomach acid to power the device and believe they can test the sensors in human patients.
Proof of the concept study
The researchers gave large pigs a capsule and found that it safely stayed in the animal’s stomach for close to a month. While they have already conducted a proof of concept study on the device with pigs, the researchers are currently working on developing new sensors that could monitor a range of different conditions.
Are Electronic Pills really advantageous?
One of the advantages of the ingestible pills is that they enable doctors to better monitor a patient’s condition, so they can then release a certain dosage of medicine based on those conditions. Doctors can increase dosages based on factors like heart rate or blood pressure, while also being alerted of the early signs of an infection or internal bleeding that they may want to intervene on. Another application for the new pills is for pain management and doctors could be alerted of potential opioid overdoses, as well as release therapeutic treatment on demand, depending on the level of discomfort the patient is experiencing. So if you fall ill, Doctor is not the only solution, you all can try these pills which are more accurate than a Doctor’s checkup.