Bowel cancer and other bowel conditions are becoming increasingly prevalent conditions in the UK across all age groups. Every year, around 21,000 patients undergo stoma formation surgery, leading to either a temporary or permanent stoma being fitted. Stoma management presents many complications that lead to extensive physical and psychological burdens, including aesthetics, leakage, production of unpleasant odor, skin blistering, and infection, all contributing towards a more complex social life. The current state-of-the-art technology failed to produce a solution that overcomes the aforementioned complications. Furthermore, research in the field is only addressing some complications without providing a solution to address them all.

In partnership with gastroenterologists and stoma patients, we have designed and manufactured a proof-of-concept prototype of a novel controllable stoma valve that eliminates the use of an actual stoma bag and allows the stoma patients to have full control over the stool release hence improving their quality of life. We then evaluated the value for its function in two settings – when the valve is in a static body and when it is in a dynamic motion. This was done keeping in mind the real-world setting where the valve must remain leak-free when the user is either resting or moving. In this paper, we report the data from the experiments to detect leakage in static and dynamic conditions.