Bowel control probe and method for controlling bowel incontinence.

摘要

A bowel control probe apparatus and method for sensing and preventing incontinent episodes. The probe (10) comprises a catheter with an infrared (I.R.) sensor tip (18) for sensing fecal mass (136) in the rectum (130) and a cuff (44) which is inflated with air to prevent passage of the fecal mass. The method of sensing and preventing incontinent episodes includes the steps of: inserting the probe in the rectum, inflating the cuff, transmitting I.R. light into the rectum, monitoring the reflectance of I.R. light and generating an alarm signal when a predetermined amount of reflected I.R. light is measured.