PillBot, a tiny ingestible robot, could revolutionize gut health exams with AI-powered cameras, making early detection easier from home.
Very cool, but as someone who has difficulty swallowing pills, I doubt I could get that down. Maybe if my life depended on it.
They generally don’t let the patient try to swallow these without assistance for that reason. A quick gargle with Lidocaine wash to numb the Uvula and lessen gagging, and they just pop it in the back of your throat with a little grabby tool. Works well enough.
Im hoping for something like this that can check the colon. I also have a hard time swallowing pills as well but to avoid a colonoscopy I will figure it out. Heck as it is it will prevent an endocscopy so I could do it.
currently the battery only lasts 30-4min, so no colonpscopy just yet
yeah may need one of those systems where it can generate its own power. Someday.
I had one of these done for an endoscopy - it ended horribly. It got “stuck” so I ended up having to have surgery for it to be removed.
Getting that surgery coordinated and scheduled took months all the while my health was declining. Eventually it got so bad that I couldn’t hold down food and I had to be pre-admitted to the hospital a month before the procedure and put on IV nutrition…
Granted I do have an autoimmune GI condition which is what prompted that test in the first place, and the chances of this happening is supposedly quite small but… Yeah I’ll take the endoscopy and colonoscopy over even that small chance of going through all of that all over again…
you have convinced me in a very real way. Even if the chance is slight that is aweful.
Colonoscopy itself is not that bad. They can sedate you so you don’t have to experience the procedure.
The preparation is not so great with the bad tasting lemonade and then going to the toilet for a long time. But suffering through that is worth it compared to not knowing if you have cancer.
yup. the prep is the bad part.
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The Adam Savage video about this was great
They’ve had similar pills for like 10-15 years in hospitals. They just take and transmit pictures.
Yeah I had one of these in the late 2000’s. Had to wear a fanny pack to receive the data from it.
