A “technological pill” that tracks breathing and heart rate from within the body

HealthDay News – A new capsule-sized device can monitor safely vital signs person From inside your body, Researchers report.

Vital signs monitoring pills (VM) works by tracking small vibrations associated with the body breathing Of the lungs and heart beats. It can detect if a person has stopped breathing, giving it the ability to provide real-time information about patients at risk overdose to Opioidsthe researchers report in the November 17 issue of the journal Device.

“The ability to facilitate diagnosis and monitoring of many conditions without having to go to hospital may provide patients with easier access to medical care and treatment support,” the lead researcher said. Giovanni Traversoassociate professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

the Digestible organs They are easier to use because they do not require a surgical procedure, unlike implants like them Pacemaker, the researchers noted in the basic observations. Many of these devices are under development.

For example, doctors were using Digestible rooms Bead size to perform ColonoscopyWhich generally requires anesthesia in a hospital. “The idea of ​​using a swallowable device is that the doctor can prescribe these capsules, and all the patient needs to do is swallow them,” the co-researcher said. Benjamin Blissfounder of Celero Systems, a Massachusetts-based medical device developer.

“People are accustomed to taking pills, and the costs of using ingestible devices are much lower than the costs of performing traditional medical procedures.” The researchers tested the VM pill by placing it in the stomach Drugged pigs. The pigs were then given a dose of… Fentanyl Which led to them stopping breathing, similar to what happens to a person when he is infected overdose. The pill measured the pigs’ breathing rate and alerted researchers, who were able to reverse the overdose.

VM pills were also tested Humansis absorbed by people who have been evaluated before Sleep Apnea. In this disorder, breathing stops and starts repeatedly during sleep. It is a difficult condition to diagnose because people must be observed while they are asleep in the laboratory, after they are connected to devices that monitor their vital signs.

“Given our interest in opioid safety, we realized that sleep apnea has many of the same symptoms as Respiratory depression Bliss explained in a press release to the magazine.

Ten sleep apnea patients swallowed VM pills at West Virginia University. The device detected their breathing stops and monitored their breathing rate with an accuracy of up to 93% overall, the researchers said.

Birth control pills are also monitored Heart rate With at least 96% accuracy, the device was safely removed by participants within a few days.

“The accuracy and correlation of these recordings were excellent compared to the gold standard clinical studies we conduct in our sleep laboratories,” said the co-researcher. Ali Rezaeia neuroscientist at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University.

“The ability to monitor patients’ critical vital signs remotely without the need for cables, electrodes, or the need for medical technicians opens the door to monitoring patients in their homes.” Natural environments Opposite the clinic or Hospital environmentRezaei added.

The current version of the VM pill passes through the body in about a day, but Traverso said modifications could be made that would allow it to remain for long-term monitoring.

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

“Going forward, there are many conditions, 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