New digital pills containing sensors send health data from inside you to your doctor
- Doctors have begun pairing sand-grain-sized sensors with a common chemotherapy drug used to treat stage 3 and 4 colorectal cancer patients
- As well as providing real-time data, the pills also help ensure patients don’t forget to take their medication
When his chemotherapy patients leave the hospital to continue treatment at home, Edward Greeno faces a new challenge.
He can no longer ensure they’re taking their medicine.
Greeno, the medical director of the Masonic Cancer Clinic at the University of Minnesota in the US, has come to realise that some patients, like children hiding naughty behaviour from a parent, will fudge the truth to avoid his disapproval, even when their health is at risk.
To combat patients’ fibbing and forgetfulness, Greeno has begun deploying a new tool in recent months: pills each embedded with a tiny, ingestible sensor. The sensor transmits data from inside the patient’s body to a wearable patch placed on his or her abdomen, which then connects to a mobile app patients and doctors can have access to.
That data offers a new window into patients’ health and behaviour, Greeno said, allowing doctors to remotely monitor someone’s heart rate, activity level and sleep cycle.