Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
PillCam Colon Now Approved By FDA
The PillCam Colon has finally been approved for use in the human colon by the FDA. Statements on other sites that the PIllCam has been recently approved are not true; the PillCam already received approval for use in the small intestine and esophagus. The PillCam is currently under study for use in determining the full transit time throughout the GI tract.
(PillCam Colon video)
Given Imaging Ltd. has won US approval for an ingestible pill camera that can help doctors screen the large intestine for early signs of colon cancer.The Israeli company’s technology uses a battery-powered camera to take high-speed photos of the intestinal tract over eight hours. The images are transmitted to a recording device on the patient’s waist.
Analysts originally expected Given’s approach to compete with traditional colonoscopy procedures. But company studies found that images from the mini-camera are not clear as those from in-office procedures. So the company has pursued a more limited market for its PillCam Colon: patients who have trouble undergoing standard colonoscopies. The Food and Drug Administration approved it for patients who have experienced an incomplete colonoscopy. The company estimates 750,000 US patients are not able to complete the procedure each year, due to anatomy issues, previous surgery, or various colon diseases.
Science fiction fans who grew up in the 1960's may recall that in Test Pilot, an episode of The Jetson's first broadcast on December 30, 1962, George Jetson goes in for a physical. The doctor uses a special capsule called a "Peek-a-Boo Prober". The doctor uses a special Peek-a-Boo Prober launcher to start it on its journey through the patient. Once inside the doctor uses a voice-control interface to instruct the Prober. Take a look at an internal video provided by the Prober to the doctor.
(Peek-a-Boo Prober in stomach episode)
The tapeworm tranquilizer from the 1981 novel Revolution from Rocinante by Alexis Arnaldus Gilliland also deserves an honorable mention for a similar idea, as does the Crosswell tapeworm from Brian Aldiss' 1969 short story Super-Toys Last All Summer Long.
Via Boston Globe; see also my previous 2009 story using the Jetson's Peek-a-Boo Prober. Thanks to Winchell Chung (aka @nyrath on Project Rho) for the tip on this article.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 2/15/2014)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Medical ")
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Bone-Building Drug Evenity Approved
'Compounds devised by the biochemists for the rapid building of bone...' - Edmond Hamilton, 1932.
BrainBridge Concept Transplant Of Human Head Proposed
'Briquet’s head seemed to think that to find and attach a new body to her head was as easy as to fit and sew a new dress.' - Alexander Belaev (1925)
Natural Gait With Prosthetic Connected To Nervous System
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain...' - Charles Recour, 1949.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'
Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come
Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
Unitree CEO Wang Xingxing Runs With His G1 Robot Army
'Does thinking you're the last sane man on the face of the Earth make you crazy?'
