October 17, 2014
Monitoring the Struggles of Patients with Gastroparesis
The Wireless Motility Capsule (WMC) is an orally ingested, non-digestible and non-radioactive data recording device that enables the simultaneous assessment of regional and whole gut transit. This single diagnostic test is an alternative to administrating three separate regional transit tests. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved WMC for the evaluation of patients with suspected delayed gastric emptying and colonic transit times in patients with chronic idiopathic constipation. This capsule continuously measures the temperature, pH, and pressure of its surrounding environment while travelling through the gastrointestinal tract until exiting the body. Last summer, I worked as a research assistant gathering data and conducting preliminary writing for a study based on the WMC. The WMC is specifically used for gastrointestinal transit monitoring in patients with suspected severe constipation or gastroparesis.
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