CE-Track and CE-Move

Capsule endoscopes (CEs) are tiny wireless cameras housed within a pill. Doctors use CEs to find the cause of bleeding in the small intestine, and to diagnose bowel disease, celiac disease, and cancer.

Patients invariably prefer CEs over traditional colonoscopy with a tethered camera. The downside however is that, once swallowed, the clinician loses all control.

Queen Mary scientists Dr Mohamed Thaha, Prof Akram Alomainy, and Dr Muhammad Qamar Satti are solving this problem with two novel technologies which will allow clinicians to track and control the CE as it passes through the body.

CE-Track: The capsule endoscope tracker

CE-Track is a pre-spinout from Queen Mary University of London, set up to develop a wearable antenna-based system with advanced sensing, machine learning and AI locate and track the capsule as it passes through the body.

By removing the guesswork, CE-Track will enable fast and accurate diagnosis, as clinicians will know immediately what they are looking at.

CE-Track works with all types of capsule endoscopes, making it easy to integrate into existing healthcare systems.

CE-Move: A locomotion system for capsule endoscopes 

CE-Move will be the sister-spinout of CE-Track. The invention is an innovative locomotion solution for capsule endoscopes.

Today’s capsule endoscopes are little more than pills, swallowed like any other pill. Once swallowed, the only movement comes from gravity and your own body – both of which are a one-way system!

CE-Move uses electromagnetic principles to produce motion. An electromagnetic coil slides forward around a rail to create an impact force, propelling it forwards. Everything is contained within the capsule itself, so it keeps its streamlined shape. There are no legs, wheels, tracks, propellors or any other external mechanisms which could get stuck, break off or damage tissue.

When used together with CE-Track, the two technologies give clinicians complete control over the capsule endoscope. No longer merely a passive pill, CE-Move represents a new generation of medical robots which could one day perform treatment as well as diagnostics.

The team behind CE-Track and CE-Move

Dr Mohamed Thaha is a medical researcher and clinician dedicated to improving outcomes for cancer patients.  

Prof Akram Alomainy is an engineer specialising in antennas and applied electromagnetics.

Dr Muhammad Qamar Satti is an expert in implantable and wearable technologies.

The team have joined the MedTech Venture Builder programme run by the London Institute for Healthcare Engineering to bring CE-Track to market. The two-stage programme is designed to accelerate early-stage medical technologies into investment-ready healthcare ventures.