Open wide, take a look inside

A research team heresaid yesterday it had developed the world’s smallest “capsule endoscope” ― a camera in a pill that can be swallowed to send images of the intestinal tract. Measuring 10 millimeters (0.2 inches) in diameter and 25 millimeters in length, the research team claims its camera is 20 percent smaller than the M2A, a device made by an Israeli company, Given Imaging, which is 11 millimeters in diameter and 26 millimeters long. Another breakthrough, according to Song Si-young, a medical professor at Yonsei University, is that its product delivers images in real time and at a higher resolution than the M2A. Given Imaging’s device sends data to sensors on a patient’s abdomen that are processed after the device is excreted. “The research was also meaningful in that the project team holds patents for 95 percent of the technology used to develop the device,” said Park Jong-ho, head of the team. After passing safety tests by the Korea Food and Drug Administration and clinical trials, the Korean capsule camera is expected to be commercially available around the end of the year at half the price of the M2A, which costs 1.2 million won ($1,000). by Kim Hyo-jin