Open Access

REVIEW

Chronic monitoring of bladder volume: a critical review and assessment of measurement methods

Arnaldo Mendez, Mohamad Sawan

Polystim Neurotechnologies Laboratory, Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Address correspondence to Dr. Arnaldo Mendez, Polystim Department of Electrical Engineering, Polytechnique, Campus University of Montreal, 2900 chemin de la tour, bureau M-5306, Montreal, QC H3C 1A7 Canada

Canadian Journal of Urology 2011, 18(1), 5504-5516.

Abstract

Chronic monitoring of bladder volume can improve the clinical diagnosis and the choice of therapeutic approach for patients suffering from urinary dysfunction. It can also be employed to notify patients or healthcare personnel when the bladder should be emptied. An early warning can be triggered either when functional bladder capacity is reached or when an abnormally high postvoiding residual volume remains in the bladder after an unfinished voiding. Currently, neuroprosthetic implants are used in the treatment of refractory patients with overactive bladder, with urgency-frequency or with voiding complications. These implants can further enhance their performance, and also reduce their adverse-effects, by implementing a conditional stimulation based on the ongoing information of bladder volume. In this paper, we review the measurement methods used in past studies, we analyze and assess them, and lastly we pinpoint the one that we consider the optimal one for chronic monitoring of bladder volume.

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