PillBot, a tiny ingestible robot, could revolutionize gut health exams with AI-powered cameras, making early detection easier from home.

PillBot, a tiny ingestible robot, could revolutionize gut health exams with AI-powered cameras, making early detection easier from home.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
    19·
    5 months ago

    Very cool, but as someone who has difficulty swallowing pills, I doubt I could get that down. Maybe if my life depended on it.

    • just_another_person@lemmy.worldEnglish
      27·
      5 months ago

      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.

    • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
      6·
      5 months ago

      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.

      • NaoPb@eviltoast.orgEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        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.

      • Russ@bitforged.spaceEnglish
        1·
        5 months ago

        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…