While channel switching the other day, I stumbled over a program about a medical breakthrough that caught my attention enough to cause me to invest a few more moments.
They featured a camera inside a case the size of a really big pill. Included were an LED light source, the camera and lens, battery power, radio transmitter, and antenna. The case was able to withstand digestive juices. The patient swallowed this device and wore a huge belt containing the receiving antenna, and which was connected to a video recording machine. Doctors are able to view the images and diagnose conditions which would otherwise require surgery or a conventional probe.
Near the end of the program, they said that they're hoping that these devices would be mass produced and that the price would drop enough to make them disposable, but for now, they're re-using them.
I couldn't help but remember my mother's admonitions: "Be careful what you put in your mouth. You never know where it's been.", and think, I know where it's been. I wonder if the image of where it's been and the practical considerations involved in its recovery would make swallowing this pill difficult. It would for me.
Cheers, PW. |
