Patients swallow tiny device which is powered by acid found in the stomach and sends information about temperature and heart rate to your mobile phone <\/p>\n
A SENSOR the size of a pill that collects health data from inside your body could revolutionise medicine. <\/p>\n
The silver bullet sees patients swallow the small sensor before it starts sending information such as temperature and heart rate to the persons mobile phone. <\/p>\n
Diemut Strebe <\/p>\n
The tiny piece of technology is powered by acid found inside the stomach and the monitoring of these vital signs could significantly improve medical care. <\/p>\n
The sensor was unveiled at the worlds biggest science fair in Boston, USA, where Dr Phillip Nadeau, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: The self-powered pill would monitor your vital signs from inside for weeks. <\/p>\n
It sits there making measurements and transmitting them to your phone. The information could be used to help doctors decide what medicine and treatment is best to give their patients. <\/p>\n
MIT <\/p>\n
The innovation was inspired by a lemon battery which uses citric acid from the fruit to charge up with energy. <\/p>\n
MIT, who have been working with the Brigham and Womens Hospital on the project, said the pill can generate enough energy to power a thermometer that sends data wirelessly to a receiver two metres away. <\/p>\n
A version of the pill, that powers up when a zinc electrode interacts with stomach acid, was tested on pigs. <\/p>\n
The 30mm-long device took six days to travel through the animals digestive system with scientists now aiming to create a smaller version of it for human use. <\/p>\n
The star-shaped arms on the pill are designed to help it stay in the stomach but without blocking food that is being digested. <\/p>\n
They also hope the device can be used to release medicine by having the arms gradually dissolve = before the device passes out of the body. <\/p>\n
Giovanni Traverso, from Brigham and Womens Hospital, said: Taking a capsule once a month could change how we think about delivering medication. <\/p>\n
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