Investigation into the peristaltic contraction of the sigmoid colon by electrical stimulation: a pilot study in the pig

Clinical application of electrical stimulation of the colon is a very exciting prospect in the health field. An electrical stimulus that would be able induce a contraction, or even better, a net positive flow in fluid or a peristaltic wave, would enable treatment for a variety of gastric diseases. This control of bowel movement would have enormous health and economic benefits in its application. The instrumentation developed for this device is intended to be able to deliver sufficient electrical excitation to a porcine colon in order to induce a noticeable peristaltic contraction. This hardware development and experimentation is the necessary beginning of a series of studies into muscle contractions in the porcine colon. With the advent of successful experimentation and miniaturization of devices implemented in these studies, we foresee eventual human implantation for the control of bowel movements