Electric Device That Tells You When To Pee

A British neuroscientist, James Fawcett, and his team have come up with a neuroprosthetic device that is able to replace damaged nerves that are responsible for making the bladder feel full. The device is also able to trigger the emptying of the bladder via electrical stimulation. Patients with spinal cord injuries may suffer from faulty communication between the bladder and brain. This results in the brain not knowing when the bladder is full and when it needs to be emptied. At the moment people with this problem are forced to use a catheter to empty their bladder.

            The device fixes this problem by placing part of the dorsal roots of the spinal nerves into microchannel electrode interfaces that record nerve signals and can determine when the bladder is getting full. The device will then send signals to the bladder telling it to empty itself and when the patient is ready, he/she can press a button that causes the bladder to empty. This device has so far only been successfully tested in rats and it had major effects on the lifespans of these rats so it is not yet ready for humans.

            I found this interesting because the device was created with the goal of allowing patients in an unfortunate condition to function more independently. If this device is to become viable for humans, it will allow people who have lost the ability to control their bladder to once again take control of their restroom schedule in an independent fashion.

Source:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/biomedical/devices/electric-device-that-tells-you-when-to-pee