Pill unlocks gut secrets
Breakthrough aids diagnosis
A SMART pill that could replace the colonoscopy and revolutionise the diagnosis of gut disorders has been developed by Australian researchers and succeeded in human trials.
The pill, which is the size of a vitamin capsule, is swallowed by the patient and measures gases in the stomach as it travels through the intestinal tract over 24-48 hours.
The readings are beamed back to the patient’s smart phone and a doctor’s computer.
One in five people will suffer from a gastrointestinal disorder in their lifetime yet one in three will remain undiagnosed and researchers believe this device will transform their diagnosis.
And for some patients it will replace the need for an invasive endoscopies and colonoscopies, which involve days of restrictive dieting and purging the system before a camera is inserted into the colon or intestines while the patient is sedated.
More than 460,000 colonoscopies are performed every year in Australia, costing more than $380 million.
But the medical marvel may never make it to the market because researchers need $30$40 million to conduct the phase two and three trials needed before it can be considered safe and effective by medical regulators.
The device was developed by RMIT researchers Distinguished Professor Kourosh Kalantar-zadeh and engineer Nam Ha and costs just $70 to make.
If doctors want to test for just a single gas in a person’s stomach the price of the device can be as low as $10 per smart pill.
Professor Kalantar-zadeh says many gastrointestinal dis- eases could not be diagnosed by a camera because they related to the microbiome in the gut and establishing the balance of gases in the gut was the best way to detect them.
Currently, one of the only methods for diagnosing these gut disorders, such as malabsorption of carbohydrates, irritable bowel syndrome and inflammable bowel disease, was to measure hydrogen concentrations in the breath, he said.
However, these tests are only 60 per cent effective.
The stomach produces hydrogen, carbon dioxide, methane, oxygen and hydrogen sulphide gases.
“If these gases are active at higher or lower levels than normal it can affect your health,” said Professor Kalantar-zadeh.
The ingestible technology has demonstrated several thousand times more sensitivity to gut gases than alternative techniques.
The phase one trials showed the device was safe and that it was excreted by patients in the trial, there was no risk of it being retained in the body.
And the trial showed the capsules could be synched with smartphones.