Team 10

Consovita: Improving the Skin/Seal Interface of Ostomy Bags

Team Members:

Cole Schmidt

Joseph Dimodica

Majdi Othman

Sudin Regmi

Team Mentors:

Jeff Skiba - CEO of Desert Valley Tech

YouTube Link:
View the video link below before joining the zoom meeting

Zoom Link:
https://asu.zoom.us/j/82653497829

Abstract

As of 2015, approximately 1.3% of the United States population, 3.1 million people, has an inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s Disease [1]. Worldwide, this number can grow to 8 million people, with the number still increasing. Crohn’s Disease can affect the thickness of the bowel, which often results in a patient embarking on one of five major ostomy procedures: Ileostomy, Urostomy, Colostomy, J-Pouch, or Continent Urostomy. This procedure leads to multiple issues from emotional to physical such as embarrassment from having a highly visible surgical interface to skin degradation due to leakage with an acidic pH. The primary issues with the current designs of ostomy bags are (1) the adhesive used to attach the ostomy bag to the skin interface eventually causes the skin to disintegrate which leads to peristomal skin infections and inflammation, and (2) leakage occurs within the skin interface leading to further irritation and damage to the affected area. This can eventually lead to moving the stoma to another area of the abdomen. This leads to two potential solutions based on customer needs, (1) that clients are seeking a condensed travel kit set up to clean and exchange their bags while on the go, and (2) to recreate the skin interface system by not redirecting the intestinal tubes to the skin surface. Through research, a polymer-based technology has been found to reroute blood through a controlled tube such as that used in trivascular ovation. Similar technology can be used to create a system for the ileum during ostomy procedures. The ostomy bag market is projected to reach 4.8 billion USD by 2028 with a 5.1% CAGR. As such, a product of this nature is likely to be very competitive.