ITS: Inductive Tracking System for Gastrointestinal Motility Diagnosis

• Research unit: INNOSUISSE
• Project number: 10519.1;7 PFLS-LS

Short description (English)

ITS: Inductive Tracking System for Gastrointestinal Motility Diagnosis

Short description (French)

ITS: Inductive Tracking System for Gastrointestinal Motility Diagnosis

Abstract (English)

Digestive functional troubles like constipation, gastroparesis and dyspepsia affect more than 20% of the population. Up to now the diagnostic techniques are very limited and invasive. We propose an ingestible minimally-invasive capsule whose position and orientation can be accurately measured. A lot of information about the motility (mechanical activity) can be extracted from the capsule movements: intrinsic rhythmic activity, displacement of the content and the anatomy of the digestive tract. The capsule made of a coil, a circuit and a battery emits an alternative magnetic field. An external array of coils maps the magnetic field distribution and allows calculating the position and the orientation of the capsule.

Abstract (French)

Digestive functional troubles like constipation, gastroparesis and dyspepsia affect more than 20% of the population. Up to now the diagnostic techniques are very limited and invasive. We propose an ingestible minimally-invasive capsule whose position and orientation can be accurately measured. A lot of information about the motility (mechanical activity) can be extracted from the capsule movements: intrinsic rhythmic activity, displacement of the content and the anatomy of the digestive tract. The capsule made of a coil, a circuit and a battery emits an alternative magnetic field. An external array of coils maps the magnetic field distribution and allows calculating the position and the orientation of the capsule.