A “technophile” monitors breathing and heart rate from inside the body

HealthDay News – A new capsule-sized device can safely monitor Important symptoms of a person From inside your body, Researchers report.

Important symptoms monitoring pill (VM) works by monitoring small vibrations associated with the body Breathing Lungs and Heartbeats. It gives the ability to provide real-time information about patients at risk if a person stops breathing High volume of OpioidsThe researchers report in the Nov. 17 issue of the journal Devices.

“The ability to facilitate diagnosis and monitor multiple conditions without a hospital visit may provide patients with easier access to medical care and supportive care,” said the lead researcher. Giovanni TraversoAssociate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

The Consumables They are easy to use because they do not require surgery unlike implants Pacemaker, the researchers noted in the background notes. Many of these devices are under development.

For example, doctors use Consumable rooms One pill dose to do Colonoscopies, which usually requires sedation in the hospital setting. “The idea of ​​using an ingestible device is that a doctor can prescribe these capsules, and the patient just has to swallow it,” said the co-investigator. Benjamin BlessFounder of Celero Systems, a Massachusetts-based medical device developer.

“People are used to taking pills, and the costs of using ingestible devices are much cheaper than doing traditional medical procedures.” The researchers tested the VM pill by placing it in the stomach Anesthetized pigs. The pigs were then given a single dose Fentanyl This caused them to stop breathing High volume. The pill measured the pigs’ breathing rate and alerted the researchers, who were able to reverse the overdose.

A VM tablet was also tested Human beingsConsumed by Assessed Persons Sleep apnea. In this disorder, breathing stops and starts repeatedly during sleep. The condition is difficult to diagnose because people have to be observed sleeping in a laboratory, after being attached to devices that monitor their vital signs.

“Based on our interest in the safety of opioids, we realized that there are many symptoms like sleep apnea. Respiratory depression opioid-induced,” Bless explained in a press release.

Ten sleep apnea patients at West Virginia University swallowed a VM tablet. The device detected when their breathing stopped and tracked breathing rate with an overall accuracy of 93%, the researchers said.

The pill was also monitored heart beat with at least 96% accuracy, and the device was safely discharged by participants within a few days.

“Compared to the clinical gold standard studies we performed in our sleep labs, the accuracy and correlation of these recordings were excellent,” said the co-investigator. Ali Rezaiis a neuroscientist at the Rockefeller Neurological Institute at West Virginia University.

The ability to monitor patients’ critical vital signs remotely without the need for wires, electrodes or medical technicians opens the door to patient monitoring. Natural environments Clinic or the Hospital environmentRezai added.

The current version of the VM pill passes through the body in a day, but changes could be made to allow for longer-term monitoring, Traverso said.

The device can also be updated Medicines; For example, you can manage Naloxone For someone suffering from an opioid overdose.

“Going forward, there are many situations, including opioid overdose and other respiratory and cardiac conditions, that could certainly benefit from this ingestible device,” Traverso said.

More information at Fundación del Sueño.

Source: Cell Press, press release, November 17, 2023

*HealthDay Reporters © The New York Times 2023