Device could improve bladder disease treatment

At present, the only treatment that reduces the symptoms of painful and very frequent urination is an infusion of the drug lidocaine into the bladder through a catheter. But the treatment only provides brief relief and needs to be repeated frequently.

Now, researchers at MIT have developed a device that may provide more effective treatment. The device itself comprises a small medical-grade silicone tube that has been laser drilled then filled with the solid drug. A shape-memory wire made of nitinol is then threaded through the tube, which is then straightened out, placed in a catheter, and inserted into the bladder.

As soon as it is released there, the nitinol wire causes the device to spring back into a pretzel-like shape, which prevents it from being expelled from the bladder during urination, and thus it can steadily release the drug over a two-week period − long enough to treat an interstitial cystitis flare-up, something that may occur about three times a year.