- video pill
- (VI.dee.oh pil)n.A camera approximately the size of a vitamin pill that, when ingested, transmits images from a person's stomach and intestinal tract.Example Citation:Internal video cameraThis hi-tech video pill, developed by Israeli company Given Imaging, records footage from the inside of a patient's body to reduce the need for invasive surgery. The pill will especially be used for difficult conditions to assess such as intestinal disorders or bowel complaints.HOW IT WORKS: Packed inside this tiny device, the size of a large vitamin tablet, is a lens, antenna, light emitting diodes, a transmitter and a battery.The pill is swallowed and as it travels through the patient's system records footage which is beamed back to a computer unit for assessment by a doctor while the patient is in the consulting room. When the doctor has the recording, the patient may leave.The pill is then excreted "normally and effortlessly" say the manufacturer.WHO BENEFITS: Previously the only way to get a look at the inner intestine was to conduct surgery or undertake an uncomfortable and invasive colonoscopy, so this device is perfect for the scalpel-shy.AVAILABLE WHEN: The video pill is currently on trial in several UK hospitals and should be generally available, at a price at yet undisclosed, early next year.— Peter Jenkinson, "Tech a look into the future," The Mirror, June 12, 2003Earliest Citation:In a stunning development, Scottish scientists recently announced that they have developed a prototype of a "video pill" that will detect cancer and other diseases as it travels through the body.The Glasgow University scientists say the pill will carry a tiny video camera, capable of relaying pictures to diagnostic computers, alerting doctors to health problems.— Lawrence Hall, "video pill could help people who aren't the picture of health," The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), April 12, 2000Notes:The video pill also goes by a few other names: camera pill, pillcam, M2A Swallowable Imaging Capsule, M2A capsule, and capsule endoscope. Given the latter, it will come as no surprise to hear that doctors call this procedure a capsule endoscopy. M2A, by the by, is short for mouth to anus, since that's the route the video pill takes.Related Words: Categories:
New words. 2013.
