patient’s stomach, the lid opens (returns to its
original shape), permitting the active compound to
egress.
As a further option, the capsule can be provided
with:
a system for generating the trajectory that the
capsule followed, such as by using a gyroscope
and/or an accelerometer inside the capsule. The
data from these sensors is sent to the external
reader, together with the image data. This makes
it easier to determine the location of the
particular images taken by the capsule, making it
easier to know where the particular problems are
(and exactly where surgical intervention might
be needed);
a heating element, which is activated by an
operator when the capsule is near a location
where coagulation of blood leaking from cuts or
wounds is occurring;
two cameras, one for the “forward” direction,
and one for the “backward” direction, which may
be particularly useful for inspecting the intestine;
additional sensors, such as a pH sensor
(Stepanyan D.А., 2011), to determine acidity;
a magnetic coil, which can be used to increase
the resolution of magnetic resonance imaging.
The coil can be located anywhere in the capsule,
and can have arbitrary orientation.
The capsule of the present invention may be used
for early diagnosis of various oncological diseases,
particularly gastrointestinal cancers. For this
purpose, fluorescent agents/beacons can be used.
These beacons, which interact with cancerous cells,
due to their chemistry, begin fluorescing at a
wavelength in the visible, infrared and/or ultraviolet
portions of the spectrum. This fluorescence permits
diagnosing oncological diseases at an early stage
(which typically does not have noticeable
symptoms), without the use of a biopsy.
If the only purpose is to detect the existence of a
cancerous tumour, there is no need to transmit video
or image frames to a computer in real time. The
processor on the capsule can, by itself, identify those
frames that show fluorescence, based on the average
brightness of the image, and transmit only those
frames. This significantly lowers the time needed for
analysis of the gastrointestinal tract using the
capsule. For example, instead of 2-3 hours, the
diagnosis can be made within 5-10 minutes, if
oncological-related fluorescent activity is detected.
Also, there is no need for additional illumination
sources in the capsule itself. This permits increasing
the length of time of battery operation, since no
energy needs to be used for illuminating the
gastrointestinal tract.
3 CONCLUSIONS
This paper has been demonstrated the idea of
creating a retention system of the wireless
endoscopic capsule using the property of
electroactive polymer to increase the size and
change angular orientation under applied voltage.
This ability of capsule to change the shape will
allow gastroenterologists to carry out more detailed
examination of patient`s digestive tract getting
additional images of suspected areas.
The studies on further capsule construction,
reliability and functionality improvements are
underway. Although the proposed capsule has
shown good results on the silicone model it is
planned to be subjected to further field and lab
studies and tests as well as clinical trials.
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