Measurement of the bladder volume with a limited number of ultrasonic transducers

Abstract

An urination management, containing the voided volume, the post-voiding residual urine, and the flow rate of urine in voiding, is important clinically for patients suffering from the voiding dysfunction. Therefore, the development of the noninvasive and simplified measuring instrument has been eagerly waiting, that enable to measure these urination parameters. Our research group previously developed the simplified device for estimation of the bladder volume, consisting of a limited number of ultrasonic transducers. To apply it to urination management, we also have proposed a novel algorithm that makes possible for the device to accurately assess the bladder volume of the wide range, and the device driver was modified to allow continuous measurement. In this study, a total of 61 different bladder volumes were measured, in order to evaluate the validity of this developed device. In pre-voiding measurement, the estimated bladder volumes based on this device were compared with the actual voided volume without residual urine. The results showed an excellent agreement (r=0.96). Furthermore, the estimated urine volumes trend during the voiding was in close accord with the actual volumes trends. As the result of this study, the utility of the developed device as an urination management system was demonstrated.