Medical Device to Tackle Neurogenic Bladder

Abstract

Almost one in twenty adults experience urinary incontinence problems according to major test surveys across all the populations irrespective of geography, cultures or backgrounds (Source: rightdiagnosis.com on 9th March 2015). While most of us take the blessing of voluntary voiding of our urinary bladder as a given, there are patients around the world who are not sensitive to the filling up of their bladder or its involuntary leakage. Thus, incontinence has a major impact on the quality of all patients leading to stress and embarrassment apart from other biological problems such as Urinary Tract Infections. Thus, to tackle this problem we have devised an innovative device that not only helps the patient concerned to track how much his/her bladder has filled up, but also helps in voluntary emptying of the same. The device, hence, has three major components, namely: 1) The sensor, 2) The Display and 3) The Micturition Control.

The sensor circuit will help to convert the volume expansion of the urinary bladder into a resistance value. This value will keep on changing as the sensor bends and will be used as an input to the microcontroller that will control the display panel. The display panel works such that the changes seen are directly proportional to the volume expansion of the bladder. The sensor and the display are connected wirelessly.

As such, the patient can get a clear indication of the filling up of the bladder. The micturition control part of the device consists of a micro-pump around the sphincter that gets activated when the patient presses a switch. The pump deflates to let the patient urinate and inflates again once the bladder is empty. This device thus hopes to make the urinary incontinence patients more independent and ready to face the world without any feelings of shame.