Sensing urodynamic disorders
Fibre optic sensors are extremely sensitive, non-invasive and biocompatible. However, issues with overwhelming costs and portability limit their commercial application, particularly in the biomedical sector. Under the aegis of the PROBESENS (PROBESENS – Pressure optical fibre biomedical sensor) project, researchers designed and developed fibre optics sensors for biomedical applications. Based on extrinsic Fabry-Perot interferometer-fibre Bragg gratings (EFPI-FBG) technology, the probe is low-cost with an all-glass design to facilitate easy insertion into standard medical catheters. Assessing urodynamics requires real-time pressure monitoring of the urinary channel. Through in vivo bladder pressure recording in patients, researchers demonstrated a better detection of bladder outlet obstruction with their fibre optic sensing device than existing technologies. Overall, superior diagnostic performance with higher accuracy was successfully achieved. PROBESENS project members have secured their combined pressure and temperature sensor technology through a patent. Besides urodynamics, this prototype could also be applied for cardiovascular monitoring, temperature and pressure monitoring during radiofrequency thermal ablation of liver tumours, and force detection in robotic microsurgery. Commercialisation activities include licensing of the technology for cardiovascular applications, and interest has been expressed for applications in radiofrequency ablation. Besides benefiting patients, rapid commercialisation of PROBESENS technology is anticipated to create new jobs and enhance the competitiveness of European medical businesses.
Keywords
Urodynamic, non-invasive, biocompatible, fibre optic, sensing probe, cardiovascular monitoring
