Methods for clearing of fecal matter the wall of a colon or other body lumen for diagnostic inspection, the methods being adapted to clearing of fecal matter comprised of particles of various sizes and compositions. Methods are further adapted for application in patients who have undergone a restricted scope of preparation to reduce and/or remediate the particle structure of colon contents, or no preparation at all, before diagnostic inspection.

Devices for collecting patient excretions utilize existing suction sources and facilitate the cleaning of bedding and/or a patient. Patient excretion collection devices comprise a collection reservoir and a collection wand which are attached to an existing source of suction.

A device for emptying stool from the rectum of a patient by means of a shaft body which is introduced into the bowel via the anus and is able to buckle or fold axially and radially, and which is provided with a dumbbell- or hourglass-shaped balloon body for assuring the transanal positioning of the device. The invention comprising a design of, and choice of material, for the shaft body and the balloon envelope, and by the positioning of the balloon body on the shaft body, wherein the axial deflection of the free forward end of the shaft body is limited and an uncontrolled deflection of the shaft is prevented, and the probability of perforation of the bowel wall under the effect of force acting on the shaft body from an axial direction is reduced by the intestinal tube.

Examples relate to apparatuses, devices, systems, and methods for collecting bodily waste and bodily fluid using a sacral pad as an attachment point. The bodily waste collection apparatus includes a sacral pad and a bodily waste collection device attached to a lower portion of the sacral pad. The bodily waste collection device includes a fluid impermeable casing defining an interior region therein, a permeable material at least partially disposed in the interior region, and a conduit disposed within the bodily waste collection device. The sacral pad secures to the wearer and the bodily waste collection devices is at least partially maintained in a position to receive bodily waste from a wearer by the sacral pad.

A fecal collection device includes a barrel with a waste drain conduit attached thereto. A drain opening is defined between passages of the barrel and the waste drain conduit. An irrigation conduit is connected to a source of lavage liquid. A trocar plug has a tapered distal end and moves between insertion, irrigation and flushing positions within the barrel passage. When in the insertion position, the tapered distal end of the trocar plug extends from the distal end of the barrel. When in the irrigation position, the irrigation conduit may provide lavage liquid to the barrel passage while the trocar plug covers a majority of the drain opening. When in a flushing position, the trocar plug covers less of the drain opening than when the trocar plug is in the irrigation position.

Examples relate to systems and methods to periodically apply inward pressure against the contents of non-intrusive bodily waste collection devices. The systems and methods disclosed herein utilize a non-intrusive bodily waste collection device having an outermost fluid impermeable barrier forming a chamber therein, one or more ports on the fluid impermeable barrier for removing fluids therefrom via a vacuum source, and one or more input ports fluidly coupled to a positive pressure source to input fluid into the chamber to collectively apply periodic inward pressure against the contents of the bodily waste collection device.

There is provided a colon cleaning device comprising: a tube through which liquid and fecal matter are removed from a colon of a patient, the tube having a longitudinal axis; a cleaning head positioned at the distal end of the tube, the cleaning head having at least one opening coaxial with the longitudinal axis, the at least one opening sized for fecal matter to enter the interior of the cleaning head from the colon; at least one disassembly element disposed within the cleaning head; and an actuating mechanism which actuates the disassembly element to perform sweeping displacement inside the cleaning head so that the at least one disassembly element rotates around the longitudinal axis to slice through the fecal matter; wherein the cleaning head and the tube are sized and shaped to be displaced along the colon of a patient.

A collector for fecal discharge is provided comprising a self-expanding resilient collection component, a housing sheath and a transit component. The collection component has an open proximal and distal end and a lumen connecting them. The component comprises interconnected resilient arms circumscribing its contour, wherein adjacent arms are resiliently biased away from each other for exerting outwardly radial pressure for expanding and anchoring the component to rectal walls upon deployment. The housing sheath comprises a flexible and resilient material overlaying at least one of inner or outer contour of collection component without interfering with or blocking its ends or lumen. The transit component provides a conduit for fecal discharge to migrate from collection component to a receptacle and comprises a flexible, tubular sheath having a first open end connected to a second end by a lumen, wherein the first end engages with the proximal end of the collection component.

Systems and methods for irrigation devices for treatment of fecal impaction in a patient are contemplated. An irrigation device may comprise a distal portion comprising a disimpaction fluid inlet and a waste vacuum outlet. The disimpaction fluid outlet may be operative to emit a generally annular jet of disimpaction fluid into the anus of the patient so as to disimpact impacted feces associated with the anus. The irrigation device may additionally comprise a waste vacuum inlet configured to receive and remove the disimpacted feces. When the distal portion is placed at and aligned with the anus of a patient, the emitted disimpaction fluid may disimpact feces so that the disimpacted feces may be safely received by the waste vacuum inlet to be safely isolated from the surrounding environment.

This special gut microbe and chemical substance sampling technology, utilizing swallowable capsules, is for purpose of determining roles gut contents play in some 52 of most costly, in lives and dollars, of diseases with their known origin in the human gut. Gut microbes and substances are collected, analyzed, medicinal substances and objects deployed, and special provisions for attracting, capturing and preserving certain strains of microbes, and means for perturbing the gut environment and immune system are all intended to research, discover, and ultimately find both the causes and cures for the most devastating human diseases, and in the process, create gut microbiome profiles.