Smart toilets; A new technology which helps diagnoses
A picture says a thousand words when it comes to excrement. Doctors will soon be able to use these images for faster and more accurate diagnosis of gastrointestinal disorders, due to a revolutionary technology that records everything about our stool before it is flushed away forever.
Useful for diagnose and treat gastrointestinal diseases
The device, which was demonstrated at Digestive Disease Week by a Duke University researcher, transforms regular toilets into smart thrones that utilize artificial intelligence to picture and analyze bowel movements in real time. The gadgets, which can be fitted within the plumbing of existing toilets, provide doctors with a wealth of information that can be used to diagnose and treat gastrointestinal ailments such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
Smart toilet technology
Typically, gastroenterologists must rely on patient self-reported stool information to help determine the cause of their gastrointestinal health issues, which can be very unreliable. As part of the standard monitoring process, patients frequently forget what their feces looks like or how often they have a bowel movement. We’ll be able to collect the long-term data we need to make a more accurate and prompt diagnosis of chronic gastrointestinal issues thanks to smart toilet technology.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a big intestine illness that affects how food moves through the digestive system and how the brain processes the signals it receives. Bloating, cramping, stomach pain, diarrhea, constipation, or both are common symptoms. According to the Canadian Digestive Health Foundation, Canada has one of the highest incidences of IBS in the world, at 18% compared to 11% internationally.
IBD
Chronic inflammation of the digestive tract is referred to as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
How Smart toilet technology work
Once placed, the new devices take photos of passing feces immediately after the toilet is flushed. The data gathered over time will provide gastroenterologists with a more detailed picture of a patient’s stool size and shape, as well as the presence of blood, both of which influence diagnosis and treatment.
The use of artificial intelligence for diagnosis
The artificial intelligence component of the application was developed by analyzing 3,328 distinct stool photos submitted by participants or obtained online. Gastroenterologists analyzed and classified the photos using the Bristol Stool Scale and a deep learning system that correctly identified stool form 85.1 percent of the time and detected gross blood 76.3 percent of the time.
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Simple and easy
Sonia Grego, one of the study’s lead researchers and the founding director of the Duke Smart Toilet Lab, said, we are optimistic about patient willingness to use this technology because it can be easily installed in their toilet’s pipes and doesn’t need the patient to do anything other than flush. Using the smart toilet, an IBD flare-up might be diagnosed, and the patient’s reaction to therapy could be tracked.
Beneficial for patients in long-term care institutions
This could be especially beneficial for patients in long-term care institutions who may be unable to report their symptoms, and it could aid in the early detection of acute diseases. The smart toilet, which is not yet available to the general public, is being fine-tuned to identify specific biochemical indicators in order to provide gastroenterologists with extremely specific data.
An unexpected improvement in symptoms
During COVID-19 isolation, IBS patients saw an unexpected improvement in symptoms, according to separate research presented during Digestive Disease Week. One of our key predictions was that these patients would get worse because of the pressure and stress caused by COVID-19, according to Juan Pablo Stefanolo, one of the study’s lead authors and a physician at the Hospital de Clnicas José de San Martn in Buenos Aires University, Argentina.
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