SRS Medical Systems (Feeding Hills, MA) landed CE Mark approval for its Spanner temporary prostatic stent for men with bladder outlet obstructions, an option over Foley and intermittent catheters commonly used these days.
The device is placed within the urethra at the neck of the bladder, but unlike the Foley it lets patients urinate voluntarily, in many cases completely normally without feeling like there’s an internal mechanism helping it happen. This is thanks to a design that relies on the patient’s own external sphincter muscle of urethra to regulate the flow of urine through the device.
The Spanner can be placed in an office setting without requiring any imaging in a fairly rapid procedure. The device can be removed in a reverse procedure utilizing a retrieval tether.
It’s already approved in the U.S. for up to 30 days of continuous use and a study is being conducted that may lead to expansion of its indications.
Here’s a video explaining the Spanner:
Product page: Spanner Prostatic Stent…
Via: SRS Medical…