An ingestible capsule for the photodynamic therapy of helicobacter pylori infection

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a Gram-negative pathogen bacterium affecting the mucosa of the stomach and causing severe gastric diseases. H. pylori-related infections are currently treated with pharmacological therapies, which are associated with increasing antibiotic resistance and consequent reduction of the efficacy down to 70%-85%. Moreover, drugs have generally side effects that further affect the healthcare system in terms of additional financial and medical efforts. The aim of this study is to present an innovative device for the treatment of H. pylori infection, consisting of an ingestible lighting capsule performing photodynamic therapy by means of light at specific wavelengths. The proposed treatment is minimally invasive and the described system can be considered the first photodynamic swallowable device ever proposed. Preliminary experiments demonstrated that the capsule integrated with LED sources can provide the required lighting power to kill the bacterium with an efficiency up to about 96%.