MEMS valve for an Intraurethral Continence Prosthesis

描述（由申请人提供）： 尿失禁影响15 - 35%的美国成年女性，每年直接医疗费用超过260亿美元。它与生活质量的恶化有关，引起许多妇女的严重关切。目前的手术治疗有显着的发病率与他们有关。因此，微创非手术治疗将是一个很好的解决方案。我们建议使用微机电系统（MEMS）技术来解决这一挑战，以开发一种适用于人造尿道括约肌的阀门。尿道内控尿假体（INCOPRO）将使用基于仿生聚合物技术的创新括约肌设计来控制尿流。在第一阶段，我们成功地获得了聚吡咯阀机制的概念验证，包括在人类尿液中的测试。此外，我们证明了使用MEMS制造工艺的微型化。在第二阶段，我们建议通过开发微阀矩阵来进一步开展这项工作，微阀作为功能性括约肌。我们的目标是在体模模型中广泛测试瓣膜的体外性能，并在猪模型中进一步评价其体内性能。我们的长期目标是将这项技术结合到一个微型设备中，适用于患有压力性尿失禁的患者。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Urinary incontinence affects 15 - 35% of adult American women and accounts for a direct health care cost of over $26 Billion per year. It is associated with deterioration in quality of life and causes significant concern to many women. Current surgical therapies have significant morbidity associated with them. Therefore, a minimally invasive, nonsurgical treatment would be a great solution. We propose to address this challenge using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology to develop a valve suitable for use in an artificial urethral sphincter. The Intraurethral Continence Prosthesis (INCOPRO) will use an innovative sphincter design based on biomimetic polymer technology to control urine flow. During Phase I, we successfully obtained proof-of-concept of the polypyrrole valve mechanism including testing in human urine. Further, we demonstrated micro-miniaturization using a MEMS fabrication process. In Phase II, we propose to further this work by developing a matrix of microvalves, which serves as a functional sphincter. We aim to extensively test the performance of the valve in vitro in a phantom model and further evaluate it in vivo in a porcine model. It is our long-term goal to incorporate this technology into a miniature device suitable for use in patients suffering from the debilitating problem of stress incontinence.