Noninvasive electrical impedance analysis to measure human urinary bladder volume

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Devices
• Urology

Background:

• Accurate urinary bladder volume assessment is crucial for diagnosing and managing various urological conditions.
• Current methods for bladder volume measurement can be invasive or lack real-time capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel, noninvasive method for assessing urinary bladder volume.
• To utilize a portable device measuring electrical impedance for real-time bladder volume estimation.

Main Methods:

• A modified device was employed to measure electrical impedance across the lower abdomen.
• Electrical impedance data were correlated with known volumes of infused physiological saline to establish a predictive model.
• Abdominal voltage changes were recorded in response to incremental fluid volumes within the bladder.

Main Results:

• A direct correlation was observed between increased abdominal voltage and bladder volume.
• Specifically, a 0.01 V increase in abdominal voltage corresponded to every 50 mL of saline infused into the bladder.
• This demonstrates the feasibility of using electrical impedance for quantitative bladder volume assessment.

Conclusions:

• The developed method provides a simple and noninvasive approach to measure urinary bladder volume.
• The portable device allows for continuous, real-time monitoring of bladder volume.
• This technique can be effectively used by healthcare professionals or patients for self-monitoring.