Gastrointestinal capsule and method
The invention discloses a bidirectional ultrasonic capsule for gastrointestinal measurement. The capsule comprises pairs of ultrasonic ranging probes to obtain correlated depth or morphology data of two sides of an inner wall of a digestive tract, wherein Probe 1 is configured to range a first distance to a first side of the inner wall of the digestive tract along a first direction and Probe 2 is configured to range a second distance to a second side of the inner wall of the digestive tract along an opposite direction to the first direction, and data of the first and second distances are correlated and a sum of the first distance, the second distance and a third distance between Probe 1 and Probe 2 is obtained as a directional cavity diameter of the digestive tract, which eliminates errors caused by motion of the capsule in the digestive tract in the unidirectional measurement of the prior art.
1 . A capsule, comprising one or more pairs of ultrasonic probes configured to obtain correlated data of two sides of a wall of a region of a digestive tract.
2 . The capsule of claim 1 , wherein each of the pairs comprises a first probe and a second probe, the first probe configured to range a first distance to a first side of the wall of the region of the digestive tract along a first direction and the second probe configured to range a second distance to a second side of the wall along an opposite direction to the first direction; an angle between the first and second directions is smaller than a threshold.
3 . The capsule of claim 1 , wherein the capsule or a first apparatus linked to the capsule through communication is configured to obtain morphological features from the data.
4 . The capsule of claim 3 , the morphological features comprising one or more of location, volume, curvature and diameter of the region.
5 . The capsule of claim 3 , wherein the capsule or the first apparatus or a second apparatus is configured to obtain parameters of motility of the digestive tract referencing the morphological features.
6 . The capsule of claim 5 , the parameters comprising frequency and strength of peristalsis of the digestive tract.
7 . The capsule of claim 4 , wherein the capsule or the apparatus is configured to obtain the diameter by adding the first distance, the second distance and a distance between the first and second probes.
8 . A capsule, comprising one or more pairs of ultrasonic probes, each of the pairs consisting of a first probe and a second probe; the first probe is configured to range a first distance to a first side of a wall of a region of a digestive tract along a first direction; the second probe is configured to range a second distance to a second side of the wall along an opposite direction to the first direction; an angle between the first and second directions is smaller than a threshold; the capsule is configured to obtain data of the first and second distances.
9 . The capsule of claim 8 , wherein the capsule or a first apparatus linked to the capsule through communication is configured to obtain morphological features from the data.
10 . The capsule of claim 9 , the morphological features comprising one or more of location, volume, curvature and diameter of the region.
11 . The capsule of claim 9 , wherein the capsule or the first apparatus or a second apparatus is configured to obtain parameters of motility of the digestive tract referencing the morphological features.
12 . The capsule of claim 11 , the parameters comprising frequency and strength of peristalsis of the digestive tract.
13 . The capsule of claim 8 , comprising an array of ultrasonic probes distributed on a spherical surface platform.
14 . The capsule of claim 8 , wherein a magnetic control device is configured to drive the capsule to the region.
15 . A method of gastrointestinal motility measurement, comprising the steps of:
obtaining morphological features of a wall of a region of a digestive tract by a capsule;
obtaining parameters of motility of the digestive tract referencing the morphological features.
16 . The method of claim 15 , the morphological features comprising one or more of curvature, diameter, volume and location of the region.
17 . The method of claim 15 , the parameters comprising frequency and strength of peristalsis of the digestive tract.
18 . The method of claim 16 , the obtaining the diameter comprising the steps of:
driving the capsule to the region;
obtaining a principle axis of the region;
obtaining a plurality of directional cavity diameters perpendicular to the principle axis;
and obtaining the diameter of the region by averaging values of the plurality of the directional cavity diameters.
19 . The method of claim 17 , the obtaining one of the plurality of the directional cavity diameters comprising the steps of:
obtaining a first distance from a first ultrasonic probe of the capsule to a first side of the wall along a first direction;
obtaining a second distance from a second ultrasonic probe of the capsule to a second side of the wall along an opposite direction to the first direction;
obtaining a sum of the first distance, the second distance and a distance between the first and second probes, wherein an angle between the first direction and the second direction is smaller than a threshold.
20 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the obtaining the volume comprising the steps of:
driving the capsule to the region;
acquiring a surface of the wall of the region;
acquiring a principal axis of the region;
acquiring a segment along the principal axis,
obtaining two planes vertical to the principal axis, each comprising coordinates of an endpoint of the segment;
obtaining the volume of the region enclosed by the two planes and the surface.