Tag: Catheters

A spinal cord injury can affect nearly every bodily function.

In UCLA study, magnetic stimulation of lower spine eliminates need for catheter for up to 4 weeks

More than 80 percent of the 250,000 Americans living with a spinal cord injury lose the ability to urinate voluntarily after their injury. According to a 2012 study, the desire to regain bladder control outranks even their wish to walk again.

In a study of five men whose injuries occurred five to 13 years ago, UCLA neuroscientists stimulated the lower spinal cord through the skin with a magnetic device placed at the lumbar spine.

SHORT HILLS, N.J., June 27, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to improving quality of life for people living with paralysis, has created four new videos that feature informative information on different aspects of health and real-life situations while living with paralysis. The videos can be found on the Foundation’s YouTube channel, which also features personal stories, wheelchair reviews, new technology available, and many more.

The newest videos include:

People with spinal cord injuries rely on catheters to empty their bladder. When a well-respected publication concluded that catheters could be reused without an increased risk of infection, it didn’t sit right with a Vancouver clinician and researcher. He had spoken to wheelchair athletes about this very issue while working at the Summer Paralympics in London.

“Wheelchair athletes from wealthier countries would only use each catheter once while athletes from developing countries would clean and reuse their catheters again and again,” said Dr. Andrei Krassioukov, a professor of medicine at UBC and chair in rehabilitation research with ICORD. “The athletes who used catheters only once experienced three-to-four times fewer urinary tract infections than athletes who reused catheters.”

When you need to go, you need to go – unless you’re the type of person who has a hard time telling. Jihee Junn talks to the team behind wearable bladder sensor Uri-Go, winner of Callaghan Innovation’s C-Prize for 2017.

Five and a half years ago, Mike Brown broke his back, leaving him paralysed from the waist down. He could no longer walk, but he soon realised that was just one of his worries. “A spinal cord injury means you can’t typically feel anything below your injury. So in my case, I can’t feel how full my bladder is and I can’t empty my bladder naturally.”

A spinal cord injury means that the spinal cord of a person is damaged and the person cannot do things that they otherwise would have been able to do such as walking (mobility) or feeling in certain parts of their body.

The spinal cord of a person is roughly 50 centimetres in length and it spreads from the bottom of the brain to about the waist. It is a key bundle of nerves that facilitates communication between the brain and the rest of the body, giving instructions to initiate actions such as movement.  It consists of 31 pairs of nerves which connect it to different parts of the body, with the nerves that are on the left connecting with the left side of the body and those that are on the right connecting with the right side of the body (WHO, 2010).

Adapta Medical, Inc. to Expand Catheter Product Line

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Oct. 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Adapta Medical, Inc. has received FDA market release for the PerfIC Cath® intermittent touchless urinary catheter. The sterile catheter system was designed by J. Glen House, MD, a C7 quadriplegic with limited finger dexterity.

FDA clearance for the PerfIC Cath® will result in Adapta expanding the PerfIC Cath® product line and launching the new mPower Cath™ series catheter product line. Both product lines feature hydrophilic and gel lubricants for straight and coude-tipped catheters. The PerfIC Cath® catheters have an attached urine collection bag while the mPower Cath™ products have a urine collection bag that is not attached to the catheter.

The world’s first semi-permanent, minimally invasive, smart catheter system for Neurogenic Bladder.

After Derek Herrera was paralyzed by a sniper in Afghanistan, he decided to start a company to improve quality of life for people living with paralysis.

I knew my life would change, but I didn’t know that managing my bladder would be the most challenging task I faced on a daily basis. As a individual living each day with paralysis resulting from spinal cord injury, I understand just how terrible the current standard of care can be for managing Neurogenic Bladder.

Nerve damage to the bladder is a common side effects of having a spinal cord injury, other injury, surgical procedures, and several disease processes. Having a consistent bladder program reduces accidents, infections, and the risk of autonomic hyperreflexia.

Neurogenic Bladder

A neurogenic bladder is one that takes voluntarily control of holding or emptying urine away from the person. Some people are unable to store urine (reflex/spastic) and this causes loss over control over emptying and leads to accidents. More commonly with a neurogenic bladder patients are unable to empty the bladder (flaccid) or pass urine at all without using a catheter. There are several types of catheters available and your doctor will help you choose which system is right for you.

Adapta Medical was founded to improve catheter technology for all users– including me. I’m a C7 quadriplegic with limited finger dexterity who cannot perform intermittent self-catheterization with the current products on the market. I’m also a practicing physician, with many patients who share my limitation and frustration. The design of the PerfIC Cath™ was the result of over 10 years of research and development, along with an enormous amount of user feedback from patients and friends about what they most needed in a product we all depend on daily.