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The Future of Drug Delivery: Doctors Empowered to Guide Pill’s Path within Your Body

Without anesthesia and without discomfort: this is what future endoscopies will be like.

The Future of Drug Delivery: Doctors Empowered to Guide Pill’s Path within Your Body
Pedro Domínguez

Pedro Domínguez

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Not all current technological development revolves around artificial intelligences. A group of researchers at George Washington University (USA) has created a capsule with magnetic control that can be driven with joysticks, as if it were a console controller.

This type of capsule will be a turning point in the world of healthcare, and more specifically in the performance of endoscopies. According to New Atlas, until now there have only been two procedures: the traditional one, involving the introduction of a thin, flexible tube with a built-in camera that travels from the mouth to the upper gastrointestinal tract, and the “modern” one, involving capsules that are swallowed and move through the intestine, taking advantage of their own motility.

The creation of these new magnetically controlled capsules, called NaviCam, is a major breakthrough, as it will allow physicians to have more freedom in viewing certain areas of the intestine and not rely on the natural movements of the intestine. In addition, this new method does not require anesthesia, which makes the process easier for both doctors and patients.

The capsules created by ANX Robotica offer a 160-degree field of view, continuous video with a resolution of 640 x 480 pixels per inch and a frame rate of 0.5 to 6 frames per second using a single camera. To monitor the capsules, patients must put on a data recording vest and lie down on a stretcher under a special magnet. Once everything is set up, the physician can move the capsule using two joysticks: one controls movement along the x-y-z axes, and the other controls rotation along the horizontal or vertical axis.

As if that were not enough, the researchers are also developing software that will make use of an AI to autonomously control the capsule through all parts of the stomach and record possible anomalies.

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Pedro Domínguez

Pedro Domínguez

Publicist and audiovisual producer in love with social networks. I spend more time thinking about which videogames I will play than playing them.

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