RFID pH monitor for GERD

The wireless system, developed at the UT Southwestern Medical CTR is an endoscopically placed RFID chip that is used for pH monitoring as a means of diagnosing or gastroesophageal reflux disease.

The new system involves pinning a small, flexible RFID chip to the esophagus, where it remains until removed by a physician. The chip, about two square centimeters, or a little bigger than a dime, tests for electrical impulses that signal acidic or nonacidic liquids moving through the esophagus. It then transmits data to a wireless sensor worn around the neck.

This is certainly a more comfortably solution for the patient over the traditional pH monitoring that involves passing a catheter through the patient's nose and into the esophagus where it remains for 24 hours.

Medtronic has a similar system which they call the Bravo pH Monitoring System:

The Bravo System consists of two primary components:

• A small pH capsule about the size of a gelcap that is attached to the wall of the esophagus and transmits data to the receiver.
• A pager-sized receiver worn by the patient that receives pH data from the Bravo capsule. After the test is completed, data from the receiver is downloaded to pH analysis software using infrared technology.

With the Bravo System, the capsule eventually sloughs off, passed along through the patient's GI tract.