Magnetic actuation for drug delivery in capsule endoscopy

The development of a highly controllable drug delivery system (DDS) for wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is an important field of research due to its promising features in therapeutic treatment of diseases in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and drug absorption studies. Before establishing an effective DDS for WCE, several factors need to be considered to set the minimum requirements for the DDS. Operation conditions in the GI tract as well as pharmaceutical factors play a significant role in determining the requirements. In order to facilitate the effective operation of a DDS in the GI tract, at least two mechanisms should be incorporated into a capsule endoscope (CE): an anchoring mechanism to control the capsule position and a drug release mechanism to control variables such as drug release rate, number of doses and amount of drug released.