Patent ID: 8075540

Claim:
A bowel management system comprising: a rectal catheter defining a catheter drain lumen, a portion of the rectal catheter configured to be disposed in contact with a patient's body internally thereof during use of the system, wherein the rectal catheter comprises a main catheter with a patient proximal end and a wall defining a major lumen, the patient proximal end being the portion configured to be disposed within the patient's bowel during use of the system and the major lumen providing communication between the interior of the patient's bowel and the exterior of the patient's body and having a size large enough for permitting drainage of the patient's bowel contents; at least one physiologic sensor to thereby determine a preselected physiologic parameter of a patient having the rectal catheter inserted into the patient's bowel, wherein the position of each of the sensors relative to the rectal catheter portion is such that the sensor is disposed in close proximity to the internal tissue of the patient when the bowel management system is placed for use within the patient; and a dedicated cuff at the patient proximal end of the main catheter, one of the at least one physiologic sensors being disposed one of internally of the dedicated cuff, externally on the dedicated cuff, or embedded within the material of which the dedicated cuff is formed.