SmartPill Corporation, the developer of capsule-based medical devices, has launched its SmartPill pH.p Capsule and the SmartPill GI (Gastro Intestinal) Monitoring System, a first-of-its-kind, in-office method for assessing gastric motility index. SmartPill is used in diagnosing patients with GI motility disorder and delayed gastric emptying, a condition also known as gastroparesis. In addition, it comes as the first medical device to provide segmented transit times.
The SmartPill pH.p capsule is a wireless, ingestible, single-use medical device, which is the size of a large multivitamin tablet and has sensors and a radio transponder. The capsule transits the GI tract by peristalsis, that is, the normal contraction process of the intestinal muscles. As the capsule passes through the stomach, intestine and bowels, it transmits essential diagnostic information like pH, temperature and the amount of level of pressure in the stomach and intestines. This, in turn, is transmitted via RFID to the SmartPill Data Receiver Docking System, worn around a patient’s belt or neck. In two to three days’ time, after the capsule gets automatically excreted from the body, the data is downloaded to a computer. With the help of the collected information, the doctor makes an accurate treatment. The SmartPill GI Monitoring System kit includes a laptop, software, a docking station and a data receiver and activation device.
The SmartPill is not equivalent to the pill cams which take pictures of the GI tract and do not measure pH or pressure. They are useful only in visualising areas of obstruction, bleeding or ulceration. But they do not help in the proper diagnosis of the gastrointestinal disease, which, the SmartPill has the advantage of acheiving.
