Real-time monitoring for recovery of gastrointestinal tract motility detection after abdominal surgery

Abstract

Loss of gastrointestinal motility occurs for patients who experience abdominal surgery and in order to avoid postoperative nausea and vomiting a period of fasting is commonly practiced. This study presents a system which acquires bowel sound signals by means of a devised stethoscope, performs real-time signal processing and notifies clinicians if bowel activity is present. The idea behind this practice is to provide enough time for intestinal motility to return to normal and benefit from early feeding in order to shorten hospital stay. Research findings indicate that a detection algorithm using statistical approach is suitable for real time monitoring in noisy clinical environments.