Do you REALLY have to pee before you get in the car? New device will tell you…
It’s a dilemma we’ve all faced: should you run to the bathroom now, or can you wait?
Now experts have developed an implant and phone app that could one day take the guesswork out of the equation.
Researchers have designed a soft, flexible, battery-free implant that attaches to the wall of the bladder to sense how full it is.
It then wirelessly – and simultaneously – transmits data to a smartphone app, allowing users to monitor the fullness of their bladder in real time.
The development marks the first example of a bioelectronic sensor that allows continuous monitoring of bladder function over an extended period of time, the researchers said.
The soft, stretchy sensor is the elongated portion near the tip of the tweezers. The green box is the implantable ‘base station’, which contains electrical components to power the device and transmit data wirelessly
The device wirelessly and continuously transmits data to a smartphone app, allowing users (and their doctors) to monitor bladder filling and function in real time
In small animal studies, the system successfully provided real-time measurements of bladder filling and emptying over 30 days.
Then, in a study with non-human primates, the system successfully provided information for eight weeks.
The researchers also showed that the sensors are sensitive enough to detect bladder tension at very small urine volumes.
Professor Guillermo Ameer, from Northwestern University in Illinois, co-led the work.
He said: ‘In addition to monitoring refills, the app can send alerts to the patient and then direct them to locations for the nearest toilets.’
The team said the device could be a game-changer for people with paralysis, spina bifida, bladder cancer or end-stage bladder disease – where bladder function is often compromised and may require bladder reconstruction surgery.
‘If the nerves of the bladder are damaged by surgery or by a disease such as spina bifida, a patient often loses sensation and is unaware that their bladder is full,’ Professor Ameer said.
‘To empty the bladder they often have to use catheters, which is uncomfortable and can lead to painful infections.
‘We want to eliminate the use of catheters and circumvent current bladder function monitoring procedures, which are highly invasive, very unpleasant and must be performed in a hospital or clinical setting.’
To monitor the bladder, the new device contains multiple sensors, which work together to measure one simple parameter: tension.
As the bladder fills, it expands.
The fuller the bladder becomes, the more it stretches. This stretching causes the elastic-like device to be pulled to indicate tension.
Likewise, the bladder contracts when it empties, relieving tension.
As the sensors detect different load levels, the device uses built-in Bluetooth technology to transmit this information to a smartphone or tablet.
The team said their sensor system could also enable doctors to remotely and continuously monitor their patients so they can make more informed – and faster – treatment decisions.
Preofessor Ameer said: “This work is the first of its kind to be scaled for human use.
‘We have demonstrated the potential long-term function of the technology.
“Depending on the use case, we can design the technology to reside permanently in the body or to dissolve harmlessly after the patient has fully recovered.”
The findings were published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.