Ultra soft hydrogel based sensor for overactive bladder monitoring It seems that our stomach problems have been exacerbated by modern life. Irritable bowel syndrome and overactive bladder syndrome are increasingly common in people who do not show signs of infectious diseases or other known conditions, but rather report experiencing unexpected symptoms.
A team of researchers from POSTECH and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has introduced a sensor for monitoring overactive bladders.
A research team composed of Professor Sung-Min Park and Young-Soo Lim of POSTECH’s Department of Convergence IT Engineering and Professor Steve Park and Byungkook Oh of KAIST’s Department of Materials Science has developed an ultra-soft and highly stretchable tissue adhesive hydrogel-based multifunctional implantable sensor for overactive bladder monitoring . The research results were published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics, a world-renowned journal dealing with biosensors.
Overactive bladder syndrome is a medical condition characterized by an uncontrollable, frequent urge to urinate. People with the syndrome may even wake up at night to urinate without having any underlying illness. This condition is not life-threatening, but it can interfere with patients’ daily activities and reduce their quality of life.
People with overactive bladder syndrome have traditionally relied on medication for treatment, which has proven ineffective for some. A relatively new treatment involves providing electrical stimulation directly or indirectly to nerves connected to the bladder to reduce overactive bladder. However, this treatment is not without problems, as it can be difficult to deliver the right amount of stimulation to the nerves without monitoring bladder activity. Excessive stimulation may lead to side effects or render the treatment ineffective.
The researchers therefore focused on developing a monitoring device to track bladder activity in real time. Since the detrusor muscle is controlled by neural activity, they hypothesized that a full electromechanical measurement is needed to accurately monitor symptoms of overactive bladder. From this perspective, the team designed the USH-SI sensor, which can monitor both mechanical (tension sensor to measure contraction and relaxation) and bioelectric (EMG sensor to measure neural signal) bladder activities on a single platform.
In a test where the team surgically inserted the USH-SI sensor into an anesthetized pig, the sensor was shown to be able to measure in vivo bladder tension and EMG signals, enabling monitoring of detrusor locomotion and neural activity. In particular, the strong adhesion of the hydrogel (adhesive strength: 260.86 N/m) enabled a stronger attachment to the bladder compared to conventional silicone sensors. The sensor can be inserted using a surgical robotic laparoscopic procedure.
“The new sensor shows that sensors can be small enough to be inserted through laparoscopic surgery with the help of a surgical robot,” explained Professor Steve Park from KAIST. He added: “This has the potential to minimize patient recovery time and reduce side effects.”
“We combined the USH-SI sensor with a nerve stimulator aimed at treating overactive bladder, a chronic condition,” noted Professor Sung-Min Park, who led the study. He further explained: “This allows for monitoring and nerve stimulation at the same time. We expect this to be a platform that can be applied to other internal organs.”
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