Spinal Injury and ‘Biorobotic Control’ of the Bladder
From: Medical Design Technology - 02/19/2016

When asked about their priorities, most quadriplegic people will select a
return of sexual function as second after the use of arms and hands. Third on
the list, above being able to walk, is a return of bladder and bowel control.
“Way down the list is walking, because wheelchairs work reasonably well and
patients can get used to using them,” says Professor James Fawcett, who heads
the John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair at Cambridge.

Fawcett is developing a device based on the ‘Brindley device’, named after
physiologist Giles Brindley, who trained at Cambridge after the Second World
War. The Brindley device is an implant to which an external stimulator is
applied manually, causing the bladder to contract and empty itself. It has
been used in thousands of patients, but it, too, is not without problems: it
necessitates severing sensory nerves from the pelvis into the spinal cord,
causing weakening of the pelvic muscles – and loss of sexual function.

Fawcett and colleagues are developing a ‘biorobotic’ version of the Brindley
device that can read signals from the sensory nerves in the pelvis, rather
than requiring them to be cut. These signals would stop the bladder emptying
itself at embarrassing times, tell the patient how full the bladder is, and
allow them to use the electronics to empty it.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2016/02/spinal-injury-and-biorobotic-control-bladder

Link:
James Fawcett
http://www.neuroscience.cam.ac.uk/directory/profile.php?jf108

John van Geest Centre for Brain Repair
http://www.brc.cam.ac.uk