A wireless, implantable bioelectronic system for monitoring urinary bladder function following surgical recovery

Abstract

Partial cystectomy procedures for urinary bladder-related dysfunction involve long recovery periods, during which urodynamic studies (UDS) intermittently assess lower urinary tract function. However, UDS are not patient - friendly, they exhibit user - to - user variability, and they amount to snapshots in time, limiting the ability to collect continuous, longitudinal data. These procedures also pose the risk of catheter - associated urinary tract infections, which can progress to ascending pyelonephritis due to prolonged lower tract manipulation in high - risk patients. Here, we introduce a fully bladder - implantable platform that allows for continuous, real - time measurements of changes in mechanical strain associated with bladder filling and emptying via wireless telemetry, including a wireless bioresorbable strain gauge validated in a benchtop partial cystectomy model. We demonstrate that this system can reproducibly measure real - time changes in a rodent model up to 30 d postimplantation with minimal foreign body response. Studies in a nonhuman primate partial cystectomy model demonstrate concordance of pressure measurements up to 8 wk compared with traditional UDS. These results suggest that our system can be used as a suitable alternative to UDS for long - term postoperative bladder recovery monitoring.