Gastric problems can be, well, a pain in the gut, but not only that - diagnosis has until now relied on invasive techniques.
In a 'down-under' world-first, Kiwi company Alimetry have come up with a simple solution where a sticky pad attaches to a person’s stomach and uses a series of pulses to check on their gut’s inner workings.
Alimetry CEO and co-founder Professor Greg O’Grady told Seven Sharp the product will speed up diagnosis and help doctors find issues faster than ever.
“About one-in-five Kiwis will carry around some gut symptoms,” O’Grady said.
“About half the time it comes from the stomach so it’s one of the most common reasons someone might see a GP at the moment and it’s actually increasing for reasons we don’t understand.”
O’Grady added diagnosing gastric issues has been like a “black box” for medical experts for a long time.
“It’s not like we can do a blood test or an x-ray and see what’s going on with it,” he said.
“At the moment, patients come in and we end up doing a whole lot of tests that end up being negative, so we lack any objective data that tells us what’s going on.
“It just leads to a lot of confusion and dissatisfaction for patients and doctors.”
SHARE ME