Non-invasive device for the patients of URINARY INCONTINENCE

The world is facing a situation without precedent; we soon will have older people than children and more people at extreme old age than ever before. As the both proportion of older people and the length of life increases throughout the world, key questions arise. Will population aging be accompanied by a large period of good health, or will be associated with for illness, disabilities and dependency? Old age can be a terrifying concept for more people as the regenerative capacity of the body will decline. This will make them more prone to old age related health issues. One of the major health issue they are going to face is urinary incontinence. This problem refers the loss of bladder control, resulting in the accidental leakage of urine from the body. There are some factors which increase one’s chance of developing urinary incontinence such as overactive bladder muscles, weakened pelvic floor muscles, enlarged prostate (for men), nerve damage that affects bladder control, a disability or limitation to get to the toilet quickly etc. These are related to our aging population. There are various types of urinary incontinence like stress incontinence, urge incontinence, overflow incontinence, functional incontinence. Regardless of the type of urinary incontinence symptom and leakage in older people may be caused or worsened by comorbid conditions, medications and functional impairment. So, we need to plan to develop such an incredible technology which can fulfill our aim to help this huge number of population, suffering from this problem.

Urinary incontinence (UI) is common in community‐dwelling and institutionalized elderly population, with a prevalence ranging from 25% to 50%. Management of UI imposes a heavy burden on the society because of the need for human and financial resources. Changing diapers is one of the most stressful tasks for care workers. Management of UI in elderly individuals usually involves the use of absorbents and toileting programs such as bladder training, habit retraining, timed voiding, and prompted voiding.

Our idea is to develop a device, which will be non-invasive. It is possible by using ultrasound technology. We can develop a device, which will detect the volume of bladder by using ultrasound technology and will give a signal by using a mobile application. This signal will be reached to the concerned people who will then take necessary steps. Care workers can determine the intravesical urine volume and relative proportion of the individual's optimal bladder capacity at the bedside. They can prompt the elderly individuals to go to the toilet with certainty when the intravesical urine volume reaches the optimal value. Alternatively, the care workers could wait until the next monitoring rather than prompting the elderly individuals to go to the toilet when the intravesical urine volume is still low. This could prevent delayed prompting or non‐voiding in the toilet. For these positive experiences, the elderly individuals and caregivers will be more motivated to void properly in the toilet. In the mobile application, different medication methods, intake of water, control of food habit, bladder diary (use the restroom at a regular time intervals, time voiding, lengthening time between trips), features will be included so that this problem can be cured and elderly people can maintain their good health. The device need to be portable, harmless, easy to use and cost effective.