Interdisciplinary Initiatives Program Round 2 – 2002

Jacques Van Dam, no longer at Stanford
George Springer, Aero. & Astronautics

The objective is to develop a wireless gastric endocapsule for making clinical diagnoses without the need of an invasive endoscope. The capsule, about the size of a large vitamin pill, is swallowed by the patient. Via telemetry, stereoscopic (three dimensional) images of the stomach lining are transmitted to a screen. Visual inspection of the images of the gastric mucosa enables the operator to detect ulcers, bleeding or tumors. The endocapsule is moved to the required location by microthrusters, controlled remotely by the physician.