A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering in Sankt Ingbert, Germany, led by Dr. Frank Volke, has developed a tiny magnet controlled camera that can take pictures of the upper gastro-intestinal tract. This device is easily controlled from outside the body by the physician and should improve the quality of stomach and esophagus imaging.

 
 
 

Today, images of the intestine are acquired with relative ease. The patient swallows a tiny camera which makes its way through the intestine and transmits images to a receiver the patient carries with him throughout the examination. Later, the data stored in the device is analyzed by a physician and searched for irregularities, hemorrhages and cysts. However, this camera is problematic for the examination of the esophagus and the stomach, since it goes through them too quickly to obtain more than a few pictures. To test the esophagus, the patient needs to swallow an endoscope, which causes the patient great discomfort.

To simplify upper gastro-intestinal tract testing, these researchers are working in collaboration with engineers from the manufacturer Given Imaging, the Israelite Hospital in Hamburg, and the Royal Imperial College in London. They are developing a control system that will improve the camera’s performance. The researchers say that the device will make it possible for the doctor to stop the camera in the esophagus when necessary, move it up and down and turn it around, thus adjusting the angle of the camera to achieve the required image.  

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