A uni-directional urethral force gauge.
Until now urethral transducers have had poor circumferential resolution and have been inadequate for assessing whether the forces closing the female urethra are equally distributed around its circumference or whether they are greater in some directions than others. This paper describes a urethral force gauge which is capable of measuring urethral occlusive forces in a uni-directional manner because it is sensitive to forces around only 20 degrees of the urethral circumference. The gauge comprises a sensor, utilising two semi-conductor strain gauges, mounted at the tip of a 14 F silicone rubber catheter. It has been used in the investigation of 232 female patients and has proved to be reliable and robust.
D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002404:Catheterization / Q000295:instrumentation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D014159:Transducers; D014521:Urethra / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000503:physiopathology