Large intestine contents' diagnosis and acoustic characterization

• US 10,244,980 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2016
• Issued: 04/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HyGIeaCare, Inc.
• Original Assignee: HyGIeaCare, Inc.
• Inventors: Meron, Gavriel David, Frisch, Mordechai Yehuda
• Primary Examiner(s): Towa, Rene
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, H. Q.
• Application Number:
  US15/521,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20170367642A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,022 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2505/05 Surgical care
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2562/0204 Acoustic sensors
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0046 Arrangements of imaging apparatus in a room, e.g. room provided with shielding or for improved access to apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/42 Detecting, measuring or recording for evaluating the gastrointestinal, the endocrine or the exocrine systems A61B1/00, A61B5/4857, A61B5/486, A61B5/4866, A61B5/4869 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4255 Intestines, colon or appendix
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/4283 gastrointestinal secretions, e.g. bile production
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/6823 Trunk, e.g., chest, back, abdomen, hip
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/702 Posture restraints
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/00 Instruments for auscultation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 7/008 Detecting noise of gastric tract, e.g. caused by voiding
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 2035/11 Medicinal preparations comprising living procariotic cells
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 35/37 Digestive system
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2205/3375 Acoustical, e.g. ultrasonic, measuring means
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 2210/1064 Large intestine
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 3/0204 Physical characteristics of the irrigation fluid, e.g. conductivity or turbidity
• CPC Class Codes: A61M 3/0275 Pulsating jets; Vibrating nozzles
• CPC Class Codes: C12Q 1/04 Determining presence or kind of microorganism; Use of selective media for testing antibiotics or bacteriocides; Compositions containing a chemical indicator therefor C12Q1/6897 takes precedence

Abstract

Systems, kits and methods are provided, which analyze the large intestine content and utilize acoustic signals detected during delivery of water into the large intestine and drained large intestine contents to derive large intestine characteristics such as microbiotal analysis. Systems may include a water delivery unit including a water supply and a nozzle connected thereto, configured to introduce water controllably into a patient'"'"'s large intestine, and an analysis unit that provides information about the drained contents using optical examination or biological assays. The information may be related to acoustic analysis of signals from acoustic sensors that are attachable to a patient'"'"'s abdomen. A variety of sensor configurations, positioning options, analysis strategies and large intestine characteristics are presented.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

introducing water controllably into a large intestine of a patient,

sensing, by at least one acoustic sensor, acoustic signals at an abdomen of the patient, and

deriving, from the sensed acoustic signals and by a data processing unit, large intestine diagnostic characteristics relating to the patient'"'"'s large intestine by analyzing the sensed acoustic signals associated with the water introduction

wherein the derived large intestine diagnostic characteristics provide gastrointestinal diagnosis of the patient.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling the water introduction according to results of the analyzing of the sensed acoustic signals.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the sensed acoustic signals, which are sensed before and after the water introduction.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the sensed acoustic signals, which are sensed before and after the introduced water reaches at least specified one region of the patient'"'"'s large intestine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the derived large intestine diagnostic characteristics comprise at least one of:

an indication of a large intestine anomaly, a categorization of the patient'"'"'s large intestine, at least one geometric parameter of at least one region of the patient'"'"'s large intestine and at least one parameter of water flow through the patient'"'"'s large intestine.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising deriving an alert concerning a consequent colonoscopy procedure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the water introduction comprises at least one period of continuous water introduction and at least one period of a pulsated water introduction, and wherein the analysis compares analyzing is configured to compare the sensed acoustic signals, which are sensed during the at least two periods.

8. A system comprising:

a water delivery unit comprising a water supply and a nozzle connected thereto, configured to introduce water controllably into a large intestine of a patient,

a drainage configured to drain, by gravity, the introduced water with contents of the patient'"'"'s large intestine,

a plurality of acoustic sensors that are attachable to an abdomen of the patient and are configured to sense acoustic signals at the patient'"'"'s abdomen, and

a processing unit configured to determine a large intestine cleanliness level of the patient'"'"'s large intestine according to the drained contents of the patient'"'"'s large intestine,

wherein the processing unit is further connected to the acoustic sensors and configured to derive large intestine diagnostic characteristics of the patient'"'"'s large intestine by analyzing and correlating the sensed acoustic signals received from the acoustic sensors with parameters of the drained water and contents,

wherein the derived large intestine diagnostic characteristics provide gastrointestinal diagnosis of the patient.