Gizmodo: medtech

PillCam Poised to Photograph Pizza Perforations

Mark Wilson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:40:00 EDT

Fact: After years of too much pizza and beer, every time I exhale, my esophagus plays Merry Had a Little Lamb. Now PillCams have seen a major upgrade that will allow scientists—who've long been wanting to study my ravaged GI tract in hopes of developing a superior race of competitive eaters—to check out my esophagus and stomach for far longer than the four seconds it usually takes to swallow a pill.

While details are light on just how the pill manages to hang out in your esophagus for up to 10 minutes even when the patient is sitting up (magnets seem to be involved), the doctor can use a remote to steer the camera armed with LED flash to grab the perfect digestive glamor shots. After that, the pill takes a ride through your stomach and intestines before making a crash water landing.

Clinical trials are already under way. And as unpleasant as having a pill poking away at my chest may sound, it's a lot more enticing than being scoped...from either direction. [fraunhofer via medgadget]

Portable Urine Glucose Meter Hates Needles, Loves Pee

Mark Wilson — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:20:00 EDT

Most diabetics are tough enough to routinely test their blood without crying about it (the alternative to death is certainly a good one), but Tanita has announced a portable digital urine glucose meter for those with sugar-management diseases like diabetes and metabolic syndrome that needs no blood.

A portable unit of what they've had in hospitals for years, a user simply urinates on the sensor (a la home pregnancy tests) to measure the urine sugar level. Results take roughly six seconds. It's not exactly the same as a blood sugar level, but the measurement should provide correlative evidence as to how much sugar is running rampant in one's blood stream.

The unit will run $154 when it's released. Each sensor cartridge is good for 200 uses and will cost $58 to replace. [TechOn]

AutoPulse Makes CPR Hands-Free

Mark Wilson — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:00:14 EST

The AutoPulse by Zoll is an automated CPR device that can not only replace someone performing life-saving chest compressions, but that can actually implement these compressions more effectively than human hands. Essentially a battery-operated band that wraps around the chest of a patient, by squeezing a larger area the AutoPulse can circulate blood better than standard CPR while allowing the doctor/technician to focus their efforts elsewhere. As far as hands-free technology goes, it sure beats the crap out of your Bluetooth headset. [autopulse via news and digg]