Ostomy surgery is a procedure that enables bodily waste to be diverted from the gastrointestinal tract to a surgically created opening in the abdomen called the stoma. Following surgery, patients care for their ostomy through routine maintenance of their pouching system, where output from the stoma collects. When this system fails, leaks occur. Leak prevention hinges on the patient’s ability to empty their pouch before it becomes overfull, but this is difficult to sense without visual cues, especially during sleep. Our team set out to design a device that mitigates the threat of leaks by monitoring the fullness state of the ostomy bag for the user, alerting them when attention is needed. Through testing with different sensor options, the team determined that hall effect sensors were most effective at identifying fullness. The sensors were housed in a flexible case in our final design, which was able to sense 150-250g of simulated output filling. Device compatibility was successfully verified with three different bag styles as well as side-lying and standing orientations.

• This report represents the work of one or more WPI undergraduate students submitted to the faculty as evidence of completion of a degree requirement. WPI routinely publishes these reports on its website without editorial or peer review.

Creator

• Fortou, Martin
• Coviello, Nicholas
• Mularoni, Sophia
• Rosato, Theresa

Subject

• Well-Being
• Innovation
• Project-Based Learning
• Inclusion
• Health

Publisher

• Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Identifier

• E-project-042524-145416
• 121775

Keyword

• stoma
• medical device
• wearable sensor
• hall effect sensor
• ostomy

Advisor

• Albrecht, Dirk
• Mensah, Solomon

Year

• 2024

UN Sustainable Development Goals

• Not Specified

Date created

• 2024-04-25

Resource type

• Major Qualifying Project

Major

• Biomedical Engineering
• Electrical & Computer Engineering

Source

• E-project-042524-145416

Rights statement

• In Copyright

Last modified

• 2024-05-21