Artificial intelligence, applied to the field of medicine, has mainly entered through the door of diagnosis, drug design and statistics, but more and more doors are opening for new technological advances that take advantage of it. And the most recent has to do with a garment capable of keeping track of devices that control our health.
A team of scientists at the University of Southern California has developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system to track these small devices that monitor disease markers in the gut. Devices that use the new system can Help at-risk people manage the health of their gastrointestinal tract at homewithout the need for invasive testing in hospital environments.
Gas formed in the intestines when bacteria break down food can offer information about a person's health. Until now, to measure gases from the gastrointestinal tract, doctors use direct methods, such as flatus collection and intestinal tube collection, or indirect methods, such as breath tests and stool analysis. Ingestible capsules offer a promising alternative, but technologies of this type have not been developed to accurately detect gases and it is very complex to follow their path through the intestinal tract to obtain accurate information.
To address this problem, a team led by Yasser Khan has developed a system, described in a paper in Cell Reports Physical Science, that includes a wearable coil that the user can hide under a T-shirt or other clothing. The coil creates a magnetic field that interacts with sensors embedded in an ingestible pill after it has been swallowed. The AI analyzes the signals received by the pill and shows where the device is in the intestine with a margin of error of just a few millimeters. Additionally, the system monitors real-time 3D ammonia concentrations, an indicator of a bacteria linked to ulcers and gastric cancer, through the device's optical gas detection membranes.
“Ingestible devices They are like Fitbits for the intestine – Khan notes – but tracking them once ingested has been a major challenge until now.”
While previous attempts to track ingestibles as they travel through the intestine have relied on bulky desktop coils, the portable coil can be used anywhere, the study explains. The technology may also have other applications beyond measuring gastrointestinal tract gases, such as identify the inflammation in the intestine caused by Crohn's disease and deliver medications precisely to these regions.
The researchers tested the system's performance in a variety of media that mimic the gastrointestinal tract, including a simulated cow intestine and liquids designed to replicate stomach and intestinal fluids.
“During these tests, the device demonstrated its ability to determine its location and measure oxygen and ammonia levels,” adds Khan. Any ingestible device can use the technology we have developed. Successful results from these trials will bring the device closer to readiness for human clinical trials. “We are optimistic about the practicality of the system and believe that it will soon be applicable for use in humans.”