By Scihealthhub – September 28, 2024
Researchers have created a new sensor that can help monitor bladder function. The sensor can monitor how the bladder fill up with urine and how it empty’s urine.
It is hoped that when the device is fully developed and approved for human use, it can be of benefit to individuals who have health conditions that cause bladder emptying problems such as spinal cord injury, stroke and bladder cancers.
Spinal cord injury causes disruption in the flow of electrical signals to and fro the bladder, spinal cord and brain. This results in abnormal bladder function and difficulty with urination.
How the bladder works
The human bladder is a muscular sac that stores urine, which is a waste product produced in the kidneys. Here’s a simple step by step description of how the bladder works:
1. The kidneys produce urine, which flows through tubes called ureters into the bladder.
2. The bladder stores the urine until it’s full, like a balloon filling up with liquid. The bladder has a muscular wall that relaxes to allow urine to flow in and tightens to hold it in.
3. Nerves in the bladder send electric signals to the brain when it’s full, triggering the urge to urinate.
4. To urinate, the bladder muscles must contract and force urine to flow out of the body through the urethra.
This entire process is controlled by a complex system of nerves, muscles, and hormones that work together to regulate bladder function.
The new sensor that can monitor bladder function
The new sensor being developed by a team of scientists led by Drs. Guillermo Ameer, John A. Rogers, and Arun Sharma at Northwestern University, works in real time and sends data to a smartphone.
According to the scientists, the system consists of a soft, ultrathin and stretchable sensor that can gently wrap the outside surface of the bladder and monitor the bladder filling and voiding behaviour.
The sensor is connected through a tiny wire to a device on the abdominal wall. This device can transmit the resulting information through Bluetooth to a smartphone or tablet.
Doctors can use data harvested from the device to adjust bladder management strategies for better results.
The sensor can also enable users monitor their bladder fullness in real time so they can make their calculations on the likely time to run to the bathroom.
Animal studies show that the implantable system could monitor and measure real-time changes in bladder filling and emptying continuously for between 1 to 2 months.
To avoid the need for a second surgery to remove the devices, the team of researchers hinted that every component of the system could potentially be made entirely of biodegradable materials that break down in the body over time.
The implantable bladder function monitoring sensor is a major breakthrough no doubt but it is still work in progress and is still being fine tuned for human use.
If eventually the trials are successful and the new device is approved for human use, it may in the future replace the current test for monitoring bladder function, also known as urodynamic testing, which involves inserting a catheter into the bladder. Urodynamic testing has many drawbacks. It is cumbersome, painful and can only monitor the bladder function at that point in time. It cannot monitor bladder function continuously.
