An interventional study of Fecobionics in Fecal Incontinence and Constipation, sponsored by Giome. Completed at 2 sites in Hong Kong. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-26.
Sponsored by Giome · Not applicable, Interventional, and Diagnostic
Defecatory disorders like chronic constipation and faecal incontinence affect 25% of the population with rising incidence. Defecatory disorders pose a major health care burden and are poorly recognized and treated. The need for better diagnostics and therapeutics is substantial.
Current assessment of patients with constipation and faecal incontinence include endoscopic assessment to rule out intraluminal organic cause for patients' symptoms, endoanal ultrasound scan / MRI to assess patients' pelvic floor anatomy and anorectal manometry and balloon expulsion test to assess anorectal function. All tests are susceptible to measurement artifacts.
The standard technologies for anorectal assessment are anorectal manometry, balloon expulsion test and defecography. Endoluminal Functional Lumen Imaging Probe (EndoFLIP©) is a novel technology, originally used to measure the dimensions and function of a hollow organ. Anorectal manometry, balloon expulsion test, defecography, and the EndoFLIP probe will be used in the proposed studies. In addition, the proposed study intends to use a simulated feces named Fecobionics which is a device that integrates several technologies into one which will save time and reduce test variability.
In the proposed studies investigators will assess defecatory function in subgroups of Hong Kong patients suffering from chronic constipation and faecal incontinence and determine biomarkers to increase the diagnostic value of anorectal testing. Investigators will study up to 130 patients with anorectal disorders and 101 healthy control subjects. Investigators anticipate to improve diagnostics of anorectal disorders considerably and to learn about physiological mechanisms that affect defecatory efficacy.
Defecatory disorders like chronic constipation and faecal incontinence affect 25% of the population with rising incidence. Defecatory disorders pose a major health care burden and are poorly recognized and treated. The need for better diagnostics and therapeutics is substantial. Currently management options for these patients are limited, partly due to the fact that control of defaecation and continence is multifactorial but also due to the fact that it is difficult to identify the exact cause of patients' incontinence. Even in healthy subjects, many aspects of defecatory mechanisms are yet not well understood.
Current assessment of patients with constipation and faecal incontinence include endoscopic assessment to rule out intraluminal organic cause for patients' symptoms, endoanal ultrasound scan / MRI to assess patients' pelvic floor anatomy and anorectal manometry and balloon expulsion test to assess anorectal function. All tests are susceptible to measurement artifacts, with a high inter-individual variation with significant overlap between healthy asymptomatic and symptomatic patients.
The standard technologies for anorectal assessment are anorectal manometry, ballon expulsion test and defecography. Endoluminal Functional Lumen Imaging Probe (EndoFLIP©) is a novel technology, originally used to measure the dimensions and function of a hollow organ. Anorectal manometry, balloon expulsion test, defecography, and the EndoFLIP probe will be used in the proposed studies. In addition, the proposed study intends to use a simulated feces named Fecobionics which is a device that integrates several technologies into one which will save time and reduce test variability. A major difference from EndoFLIP and other technologies like anorectal manometry is that the device will be defecated rather than providing static data from one location in the anal canal.
In the proposed studies investigators will assess defecatory function in subgroups of Hong Kong patients suffering from chronic constipation and faecal incontinence and determine biomarkers to increase the diagnostic value of anorectal testing. Investigators will study up to 130 patients with anorectal disorders and 101 healthy control subjects. Investigators anticipate to improve diagnostics of anorectal disorders considerably and to learn about physiological mechanisms that affect defecatory efficacy. For example, one substudy investigates the effect of posture on defecation and another substudy focuses on deferred defecation. A third study assessed defecatory parameters as a function of the stiffness of Fecobionics. Pelvic floor function will also be assessed through vaginal measurements as well as Fecobionics may be endoscopically placed in sigmoid colon. Finally, a substudy assessed intestinal parameters after insertion of Fecobionics through a stoma.
283 studies on the registry are indexed under Fecal Incontinence; 52 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 236 is above the median of 50 across 203 interventional studies indexed under Fecal Incontinence.
Browse Fecal Incontinence studies →Giome is the lead sponsor of 2 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Device: Fecobionics
Fecobionics is a new device for studying defecation
Decreased anorectal pressure assessed with the Fecobionics device
The number of participants with low anorectal pressure during defecation
Time frame: 1 year
Decreased anorectal mechanical stress assessed with the Fecobionics device
The number of participants with low anorectal mechanical stress during defecation
Time frame: 1 year
Decreased anorectal angle assessed with the Fecobionics device
The number of participants with small anorectal angle during defecation
Time frame: 1 year
Wave-like decrease in cross-sectional area with the Fecobionics device
The amount of recordings with retrograde intestinal ripples
Time frame: 1 year
Ran from Aug 2017 to primary completion in Dec 2024, 88 months.
Of 70 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Fecal Incontinence, half reached primary completion within 36 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 16 and three quarters within 57. This study's 88 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 86 studies reached it within 36 months; a quarter within 20 and three quarters within 57.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in Dec 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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