Patent ID: 6228040
Filing Date: 2001-05-08
Classification: A61B

Abstract:
An apparatus for diagnosis of the presence or absence of irritable bowel syndrome in a patient, comprising:(a) a first electronic microphone adapted to provide good acoustic contact with an abdomen of the patient;(b) a medium adapted to communicate a signal produced by the first electronic microphone in response to bowel sounds in the patient to an analog-to-digital conversion circuit;(c) a digital computer coupled to the analog-to-digital conversion circuit and adapted to receive therefrom digital information representative of a first sequence of bowel sounds of the patient in a fasting condition, and executing a program toi. produce a first group of digital numbers representing times of occurrence of fasting bowel sounds having at least a first predetermined amplitude, and store the first group of digital numbers as a first tachogram, andii. compute a first number representative of a frequency of the fasting bowel sounds from the first tachogram, to indicate a diagnosis of irritable bowel syndrome in the patient if the first number bears a predetermined relationship to a predetermined threshold.