Ingestible pill detects sleep apnoea and overdose

Measuring about the size of a vitamin tablet, the device uses an accelerometer to measure the slight movements generated by the heart beating and the lungs expanding. The capsule also contains two small batteries and a wireless antenna, enabling data to be transmitted to an external device such as a laptop or smartphone.

Although it is designed to work from the stomach, the MIT team said it can still function further along the digestive system, usually passing through a patient within 24 hours. In a study of 10 human volunteers, the device was used to monitor vital signs and detect sleep apnoea episodes where a patient repeatedly stops and starts breathing during sleep. The work is published in the journal Device.

“It’s an exciting intervention to help people be diagnosed and then receive the appropriate treatment if they suffer from obstructive sleep apnoea,” said Giovanni Traverso, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.