According to research selected for presentation at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2021, an artificial intelligence tool under development at Duke University can be applied to a regular toilet to help evaluate patients' stool and provide gastroenterologists with the knowledge they need to provide adequate care. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are two chronic gastrointestinal conditions that could benefit from the latest technology.

According to the report, "Patients often can't remember what their stool looks like or how often they have a bowel movement, which is part of the standard monitoring process," said researcher Deborah Fisher from Duke University in the US.

"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 added.

Within tubes of an existing toilet, the technology can be enhanced. The toilet will take a picture of the stool inside the pipes after a person has a bowel movement and flushes. The information gathered over time will help a gastroenterologist better recognize a patient's stool type (i.e., loose, regular, or constipated) and the involvement of blood, helping them to diagnose the patient and provide the appropriate care.

To improve the artificial intelligence image analysis method for the Smart Toilet, researchers analyzed 3,328 unique stool images found online or given by research participants. Gastroenterologists analyzed and annotated all of the photos according to the Bristol Stool Scale, a standard clinical method for categorizing stool.

While the prototype appears to be feasible, it is not yet available to the general public. Added features of the technology are being developed, such as stool specimen sampling for biochemical marker analysis, which will provide highly accurate disease data to meet the needs of individuals and gastroenterologists.