Pressure Sensor for Bladder Control

Spinal injuries can damage the nerve supply to the bladder, meaning that people cannot tell when their bladder is full and needs to be emptied. This can create excessively high pressure on the bladder, which affects the kidneys and can lead to damage that may be life-threatening. Measuring this pressure is needed to see how the bladder fills and empties. Currently, measurements are taken using a catheter inserted into the urethra so that the bladder can be filled with water. This is uncomfortable for the patient, and since the bladder is filled with saline at an unnaturally high speed, it’s also unreliable.