Smartpill: Time Your Dog’s Turd
2 Comments Published by Joel March 27th, 2007 in Dogs, Gadgets. Share This
Breaking news from the realm of science, as SmartPill Corp. announces it has begun trials of its SmartPill GI Monitoring System for “evaluation of gastrointestinal motility disorders.”
The SmartPill pH.p Capsule is a wireless, ingestible medical device — about the size of a large vitamin pill — that measures pressure and pH and temperature and provides gastric emptying time, combined small and large bowel transit time, and total transit time. The Capsule travels through the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, collecting and transmitting data to the SmartPill Data Receiver worn by the patient. When the test is complete, the data is downloaded to a computer for analysis.
Truly, is there nothing science cannot do? I mean that a tablespoon of Crisco, a corn cob, and a stopwatch couldn’t handle?
Company Page [SmartPillCorp.com]
actually this is phenomenal for people with GI disorders, especially knowing the small intestine/large intestine times and the pH. before this device, generally the doctor has to guess what’s wrong (crons, colitis, etc.) but to know exactly how long it takes the stomach to empty and then each stage of digestion is remarkable.
the pH helps, too, to understand the efficacy of digestion, as certain enzymes and bacteria produce more or less efficient results at different levels of acidity.
anything that takes the variables out of diagnosing really tricky diseases/conditions, that HMO doctors otherwise treat by playing Let’s Make a Deal with medication, is a big win.
As my son is in the hospital right now with GI docs trying to decide between partial bowel obstruction, ileus, crohn’s, etc, I’m extremely intrigued. Thanks for the link.