Urine Runs Through It

Here’s an interesting idea. The Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) is reporting that a Dutch investigator Tim Idzenga believes that a microphone attached to perineum in men can listen to changes in the sound of flowing urine during urination, potentially detecting hissing tones of benign prostatic hyperplasia. He even wants to commercialize the idea to develop a diagnostic system:

Elder men with voiding symptoms, such as a weak urinary stream and frequent voiding, often suffer from an enlarged prostate, clinically known as ‘Benign Prostatic Enlargement’ (BPE). However, a weak urinary stream and frequent voiding can also be caused by a weak bladder, for which a prostate operation does not help.
If BPE is suspected in a patient, the bladder pressure during voiding is measured using a catheter inserted into the bladder via the urethra. The urinary flow is simultaneously recorded. This investigation is time-consuming, painful and carries a risk of infection. On top of this, it is not carried out in all patients with BPE symptoms. Consequently, there is a need for a simple, painless measurement method for determining the resistance of the urethra and its location.
Tim Idzenga came up with the idea of using the sound produced by the urinary flow in the urethra as a measure of the urethral resistance. He performed the measurement by placing a microphone against the perineum, between the scrotum and anus. The frequency spectrum of the sound was found to correlate with the narrowing of the urethra. The degree of narrowing can therefore be determined from the recorded urinary sound.
A patent for this invention is being applied for in cooperation with the company IQ+ Medical BV. The method will be tested at the urology outpatient clinic of the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam. Besides the standard method, patients with voiding symptoms will also be asked to urinate with a microphone against the perineum.

NWO press release: Listening to the urinary stream…
Image credit: Wellcome images: Anatomy of the prostate. Colour artwork….
(hat tip: MTB Europe)