Development of a tagging mechanism for an ingestible capsule

• Main Author: Huynh, Van An
• Other Authors: Phee Soo Jay, Louis
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Surgical assistive technology; DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering::Bio-mechatronics
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/42314
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

In the field of non-invasive surgery (NIS), non-interventional methods for internal examination of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, wireless ingestible capsule has advantages over conventional endoscope and push enteroscope by allowing doctors to monitor inside the entire GI tract of a patient in a comfortable, effective and safe manner. However, current commercial capsules lack locomotion ability and therapeutic options which have been deployed widely in other methods using endoscope. To date, the capsule has yet been developed to effectively perform surgical and therapeutic options. Endoscopic marking is a therapeutic procedure performed with the assistance of endoscope to localize a tumor, lesion, polyp and cancer preoperatively. It is currently not possible to be performed inside the small bowel. To improve endoscopic diagnosis with the advancement of miniaturization technology, an innovative solution is to develop a tagging mechanism onboard the current capsule for marking purposes. As soon as a tumor or bleeding symptoms are discovered based on real time transmission of GI images from the capsule, the doctor could make an immediate decision to activate the tagging mechanism to leave a tag on the intestine wall via remote control. If the capsule is able to perform this procedure, accuracy and time taken to detect tumor or cancer for resection would be improved.