Selective Recording of Urinary Bladder Fullness from the Extradural Sacral Roots

Managing the urinary bladder is of primary importance to clinicians and patients after trauma to the spinal cord. Sacral Anterior Root Stimulators that control the bladder have been available as clinical technology for many years, however these devices cannot measure the fullness of the urinary bladder or detect the onset of reflex voiding. In order to address this fundamental limitation, it is necessary to develop a method for recording the neural signals that encode bladder fullness. This paper presents a proof of concept technique for recording bladder afferents from the extradural sacral roots using a multiple electrode cuff. Results are provided from acute in-vivo experiments performed in sheep.