The device, from a team at MIT, could change how doctors diagnose sleep apnea.
Researchers at MIT have created a ingestible capsule that will allow doctors to monitor your vital signs from your GI tract.
The capsule is about the size of a multivitamin, and uses an accelerometer to measure your breathing and heart rate. The plan is to use the device to help diagnose sleep apnea without the need for large sensors and monitors; however, researchers say it could also be used to detect opioid overdoses in high-risk patients as well.
“It’s an exciting intervention to help people be diagnosed and then receive the appropriate treatment if they suffer from obstructive sleep apnea,” says Giovanni Traverso, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
