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In the framework of the European project Women Up, which was initiated with the meeting of the new European partners at the UPC in Barcelona on 5 and 6 February.
A device for rehabilitating the pelvic floor at home created by the UPC and the Hospital Clínic will be tested in trials across Europe
The high-performance technology patented by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona allows the pelvic floor to be rehabilitated at home. It will be improved and developed as of this year and will be tested in three European hospitals. It is a technology designed by researchers at the Biomedical Engineering Research Centre (CREB) and members of the Pelvic Floor Unit of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, and is crossing national borders in the framework of the Women Up project, with support from six European countries.
05/02/2015
The initial meeting of the Women Up project, led by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) within the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, was held at the UPC’s Torre Girona building on 5 and 6 February under the title Cost effective self-management of urinary incontinence addressed to women across Europe.
This meeting marked the start of the project, whose main aim is to improve the quality of life of people with urinary incontinence through an innovative system. The project is coordinated by Miquel Ángel Mañanas and Joan Ramos, researchers of the UPC's CREB, which forms part of the Innovation and Technology Centre (CIT UPC). The new, patented system is based on information and communication technology (ICT) solutions and is designed for self-management of this chronic disorder by patients under safe remote supervision by a physician. Montserrat Espuña, a physician at the Hospital Clínic, will coordinate the clinical part of the project and the trials to be carried out in the three hospitals. The initiative, involving nine partners from six European countries, has a budget of €3.5 million and will be carried out over three and a half years.
The participants include the UPC; the Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and the University of Barcelona; the Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam (Netherlands); the Kuopio University Hospital (Finland) and the European Urogynaecological Association (Czech Republic); the companies BAP Health Outcomes Research, S.L. (Oviedo, Spain), Mega Electronics Ltd (Finland) and YouRehab Ltd (Switzerland); and the Babes-Bolyai University (Romania).
Exercises to rehabilitate the pelvic floor are recommended as an initial conservative treatment for urinary incontinence, a problem affecting about 56 million people in Europe, mostly women, according to the World Health Organisation. Although not considered serious, this disorder can negatively affect the quality of professional and personal life. It is estimated that in Spain it affects 15% of all women and 25% of women over 64 years of age.
Pelvic floor therapies for women include biofeedback devices, which are incorporated in some clinical units. These devices facilitate and improve the exercises by recording and displaying muscle activity through an electrode inserted into the vagina.
This patented technology was developed jointly by the UPC and the Hospital Clínic. Within the Women Up project it will be tested in the Hospital Clínic and in two other European hospitals: the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam and the Kuopio University Hospital in Finland. The new device will therefore be tested in women belonging to different cultural and sociological environments across Europe.
It is the only portable biofeedback device that evaluates training by monitoring the activity of the muscles of the pelvic floor and abdomen as the patient exercises. It records all the patient's activities at home and allows the therapist to monitor them remotely. It also allows the therapist to establish a personal exercise programme by setting the number, duration and sequence of contractions prescribed and offers patients an initial evaluation of the results in real time.
This system is the result of multidisciplinary research. It has already shown satisfactory results in trials with a group of patients and a group of volunteers in a preclinical phase. The participants in the project include Miquel Ángel Mañanas and Joan Ramos, researchers of the UPC's CREB, Montserrat Espuña, head of the Pelvic Floor Unit of the Clinical Institute of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, and Amelia Perez, a nurse in the Unit who is an expert with 30 years of experience treating women with urinary incontinence.
The UPC researchers Miguel Ángel Mañanas and Joan Ramos, as coordinators of the Women Up project, and Montserrat Espuña, a physician of the Clínic Foundation, chair of the Pelvic Floor Section of the Spanish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and current chair of the scientific committee of the International Continence Society, were present at the kick-off meeting of the Women Up project at the UPC on 5 and 6 February.
The topics of the meeting were goals and strategies and suitable applications for the market. The meeting was attended by representatives of the hospitals, organisations and companies linked to the project, and by experts in clinical treatment of urinary incontinence, such as Linda Cardozo, of King's College Hospital, London (United Kingdom), chair of the European Urogynaecological Association.
The hospitals linked to the project were represented by Jan-Paul Roovers, head of the Gynaecology Division of the Academic Medical Centre, and Olavi Airaksinen, Head of the Rehabilitation Service of Kuopio University Hospital, where the systems developed in the project will be tested through three complementary clinical trials.
In addition to clinical aspects, other factors for achieving an optimal and comprehensive solution to the complaint within conservative treatments were also considered. These include business models for medical treatment at home that can be applied to the health systems of different countries and the use of health psychology to add features that improve adherence to treatment.
The project also aims to achieve several specific objectives, including improving the health of women, facilitating lifestyle changes through comprehensive multi-factor treatment, and creating eHealth tools to optimise the cost-efficiency of ICT-based solutions and significantly reduce health system costs.
Another objective is to make future systems easier to use by patients and healthcare professionals by means of devices that use biofeedback and tap the potential of social networks and smart phones. The ultimate aim is to develop and implement an innovative approach to the supervision of pelvic floor muscle training and to validate a comprehensive treatment across Europe.
The project is one of the strategic pillars of the Horizon 2020 programme: Societal Challenges in Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing. This is the first time that the European Commission has approved and funded a project of this nature for the treatment of urinary incontinence.
This meeting marked the start of the project, whose main aim is to improve the quality of life of people with urinary incontinence through an innovative system. The project is coordinated by Miquel Ángel Mañanas and Joan Ramos, researchers of the UPC's CREB, which forms part of the Innovation and Technology Centre (CIT UPC). The new, patented system is based on information and communication technology (ICT) solutions and is designed for self-management of this chronic disorder by patients under safe remote supervision by a physician. Montserrat Espuña, a physician at the Hospital Clínic, will coordinate the clinical part of the project and the trials to be carried out in the three hospitals. The initiative, involving nine partners from six European countries, has a budget of €3.5 million and will be carried out over three and a half years.
The participants include the UPC; the Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona and the University of Barcelona; the Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam (Netherlands); the Kuopio University Hospital (Finland) and the European Urogynaecological Association (Czech Republic); the companies BAP Health Outcomes Research, S.L. (Oviedo, Spain), Mega Electronics Ltd (Finland) and YouRehab Ltd (Switzerland); and the Babes-Bolyai University (Romania).
Exercises to rehabilitate the pelvic floor are recommended as an initial conservative treatment for urinary incontinence, a problem affecting about 56 million people in Europe, mostly women, according to the World Health Organisation. Although not considered serious, this disorder can negatively affect the quality of professional and personal life. It is estimated that in Spain it affects 15% of all women and 25% of women over 64 years of age.
Pelvic floor therapies for women include biofeedback devices, which are incorporated in some clinical units. These devices facilitate and improve the exercises by recording and displaying muscle activity through an electrode inserted into the vagina.
This patented technology was developed jointly by the UPC and the Hospital Clínic. Within the Women Up project it will be tested in the Hospital Clínic and in two other European hospitals: the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam and the Kuopio University Hospital in Finland. The new device will therefore be tested in women belonging to different cultural and sociological environments across Europe.
It is the only portable biofeedback device that evaluates training by monitoring the activity of the muscles of the pelvic floor and abdomen as the patient exercises. It records all the patient's activities at home and allows the therapist to monitor them remotely. It also allows the therapist to establish a personal exercise programme by setting the number, duration and sequence of contractions prescribed and offers patients an initial evaluation of the results in real time.
This system is the result of multidisciplinary research. It has already shown satisfactory results in trials with a group of patients and a group of volunteers in a preclinical phase. The participants in the project include Miquel Ángel Mañanas and Joan Ramos, researchers of the UPC's CREB, Montserrat Espuña, head of the Pelvic Floor Unit of the Clinical Institute of Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Neonatology of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, and Amelia Perez, a nurse in the Unit who is an expert with 30 years of experience treating women with urinary incontinence.
Kick-off meeting
The UPC researchers Miguel Ángel Mañanas and Joan Ramos, as coordinators of the Women Up project, and Montserrat Espuña, a physician of the Clínic Foundation, chair of the Pelvic Floor Section of the Spanish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and current chair of the scientific committee of the International Continence Society, were present at the kick-off meeting of the Women Up project at the UPC on 5 and 6 February. The topics of the meeting were goals and strategies and suitable applications for the market. The meeting was attended by representatives of the hospitals, organisations and companies linked to the project, and by experts in clinical treatment of urinary incontinence, such as Linda Cardozo, of King's College Hospital, London (United Kingdom), chair of the European Urogynaecological Association.
The hospitals linked to the project were represented by Jan-Paul Roovers, head of the Gynaecology Division of the Academic Medical Centre, and Olavi Airaksinen, Head of the Rehabilitation Service of Kuopio University Hospital, where the systems developed in the project will be tested through three complementary clinical trials.
In addition to clinical aspects, other factors for achieving an optimal and comprehensive solution to the complaint within conservative treatments were also considered. These include business models for medical treatment at home that can be applied to the health systems of different countries and the use of health psychology to add features that improve adherence to treatment.
The project also aims to achieve several specific objectives, including improving the health of women, facilitating lifestyle changes through comprehensive multi-factor treatment, and creating eHealth tools to optimise the cost-efficiency of ICT-based solutions and significantly reduce health system costs.
Another objective is to make future systems easier to use by patients and healthcare professionals by means of devices that use biofeedback and tap the potential of social networks and smart phones. The ultimate aim is to develop and implement an innovative approach to the supervision of pelvic floor muscle training and to validate a comprehensive treatment across Europe.
The project is one of the strategic pillars of the Horizon 2020 programme: Societal Challenges in Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing. This is the first time that the European Commission has approved and funded a project of this nature for the treatment of urinary incontinence.
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