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The first participants in a clinical trial of a bioelectrical therapy to treat incontinence have received their “smart” bioelectronic implants.

Woman holding bladder area

Amber Therapeutics, a company spun out from the University of Oxford in 2021, applies a research system which uses ‘closed-loop neuromodulation’. This is a type of therapy which involves implanting a device which can sense, interpret, adapt and respond to individual patient signals, in an attempt to restore normal bladder function.

Investigators are exploring how to directly regulate the urge to empty the bladder (‘urge incontinence’) and also increase resistance to urine leakage caused by activities such as coughing or lifting (mixed urinary incontinence’). The device is inserted in participants’ pelvic region using a minimally invasive surgical procedure that accesses and targets the nerve that directly controls continence.

To date, five participants have been safely implanted with the system, known as Picostim-DyNeuMo, in which an adaptive algorithm is activated and runs continuously in an at-home setting. The remaining participants will be enrolled during the first half of 2023.

Read the full story on the University of Oxford website

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