There's no doubt that technology has done so much for humanity. It has a huge contribution in medical breakthroughs in finding possible cure for diseases and conditions, leading to a longer life. This recently developed artificial intelligence tool may also make a difference. This will allow doctors, particularly gastroenterologists, to study stool samples and analyze one's health.
A group of researchers from the Duke University created this new technology to take pictures of one's stool within the pipe system in their study "Automated stool image analysis by artificial intelligence in a smart toilet." This means that right after the patient defecates and flushes the toilet, it will start data gathering.
Smart Toilet: How It Works
The AI technology will be simply retrofitted to the pipes of a toilet. Once installed, it will take pictures of the stool after the patient flushes it. The tool will analyze the images to track chronic gastrointestinal health issues, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). The texture, color, and presence of blood in the feces will be immediately detected.
According to the study's lead author, Deborah Fisher, MD, gastroenterologists would simply rely on the report of the patient pertaining to their stool. Apart from being unreliable, patients tend to forget how their stool looks or how frequently they have a bowel movement. Since these are essential information for the study, they may affect the doctor's diagnosis.
"The Smart Toilet technology will allow us to gather the long-term information needed to make a more accurate and timely diagnosis of chronic gastrointestinal problems," Fisher said, according to Eureka Alert.
Although this is not yet available to the public, a prototype was created which showed promising feasibility. Other features will also be added, like a stool specimen sampling that can be used for biochemical marker analysis.
How Smart Toilet Was Developed
A total of 3,328 unique stool images were used to test the smart toilet. The photos were first annotated by a gastroenterologist using a common clinical tool called Bristol Stool Scale. This helped to check if the images had an accurate classification.
Using a deep learning algorithm, they scanned all the stool images allowing the AI system to classify the stool. The result indicated that it can classify with 85.1 percent accuracy and perform blood detection with an accuracy of 76.3 percent.
What's good about the Smart Toilet is that it makes things a lot easier for the patients. It will also save them from the trouble of scooping their feces to bring a stool sample to the lab. Researchers are optimistic that patients will be willing to use the said technology since it merely involves installing it on their pipes then flushing.
"An IBD flare-up could be diagnosed using the Smart Toilet and the patient's response to treatment could be monitored with the technology. This could be especially useful for patients who live in long-term care facilities who may not be able to report their conditions and could help improve initial diagnosis of acute conditions," said Dr Sonia Grego, study lead researcher, and Duke Smart Toilet Lab founding director, in a report by SciTech Daily.
Since this is not yet available in the market, you can try these modern smart toilets: