Uroflo device recognized for potential urological care

Baylor College of Medicine-Texas Children's Hospital sponsored team at Rice University takes top honors in national competition with innovative urologic medical device

A team of undergraduate engineering students from Rice University won top honors in a national design competition to create an innovative device that has the potential to revolutionize urological care. Their device, Uroflo, was recognized for its potential to improve patient outcomes and post-operative care.

A joint venture between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the non-profit organization VentureWell, the Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge invites college students to create solutions to healthcare problems using technological applications. The 2024 competition featured 85 applications from 48 universities.

Team UroFlo, comprised of Anushka Agrawal, Sahana Prasanna, Robert Heeter, Archit Chabbi, Kevin Li and Richard Chan, all 2024 graduates of Rice University, took home top honors and a $20,000 award. The team was sponsored by Dr. Chester Koh, professor of urology at Baylor and executive director of the Southwest-Midwest National Pediatric Device Innovation Consortium (SWPDC), Dr. Raymond Yong, a urology fellow at Baylor and Texas Children's Hospital, and Dr. Sagar Patel a resident in the Scott Department of Urology at Baylor.

The team developed an automated continuous bladder irrigation (CBI) system that provides comprehensive care to postoperative patients, reducing the burden on healthcare professionals. With its state-of-the-art sensors, machine learning algorithms and touchscreen user interface for data collection, process and visualization, Uroflo improves the management of urinary tract infections and prevents blood clots.

"Engineering solutions like UroFlo help address unmet needs our pediatric specialists encounter in their day-to-day work with young patients," Koh said. "Our consortium has an established history of partnering with engineering teams at Rice on such projects, and this team's success is a testament to just how critical such collaborations can be in improving patient care."

UroFlo has showcased its potential of application in real-world medical settings and has been recognized with various other awards the past year including:

Patel says the device could streamline CBI protocols and have a positive impact on patient outcomes.

"We hoped to revolutionize standard protocols for hematuria by integrating artificial intelligence to reduce healthcare cost, decrease waste and, ultimately, improve patient outcomes," Patel adds.

The medical innovation device features a sensor that accurately measures and autonomously optimizes the bladder irrigation flow rate in response to bleeding and actively monitors the patient and the overall process. The user friendly web interface provides real-time data, manages alerts for abnormal conditions and allows providers to oversee patient information remotely. A video about UroFlo is available here.

"CBI can be a very labor-intensive task that requires frequent monitoring and troubleshooting," Yong said. "This can be a significant burden on healthcare providers and can cause serious morbidity if not managed properly."

The team will be presented with its award on Oct. 25 during the annual Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) conference in Baltimore.

By Alexandria Brown, senior marketing associate in the Scott Department of Urology at Baylor College of Medicine

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