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Cooper earns award from Southwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium for home bladder-monitoring device

Christopher Cooper, MD, UI professor of urology, has been awarded the Pediatric Urology Device Prize from the Southwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium for a home-based pediatric cystomanometer.

The device attaches to any catheter and transmits real-time data to health care teams via a smartphone app. This allows for more accessible and frequent bladder pressure monitoring at home, which is especially beneficial for people born with spinal cord problems who use a catheter for bladder drainage. Physicians typically monitor those patients’ bladder function with annual or bi-annual urodynamics studies.

“Unfortunately, some patients sustain permanent damage to their kidneys or bladder from high bladder pressures that developed before they come back for these visits,” Dr. Cooper says. “By routinely checking their own bladder pressure at home with this device, it is hoped that harmful bladder pressures could be detected earlier and treated to prevent this damage.”

Read the full article from the UI Office of the Vice President for Research.

Date: 
Wednesday, February 16, 2022