Artificial Sphincter Under Development Will be Adaptive Implant

The lack of control over one's own bowel movements can severely affect an individual's quality of life, but until now there is now sufficient solution to this problem. Researchers at the University of Basel want to change this by developing an adaptive implant that would be able to contract and relax like a natural muscle. The Swiss national research initiative Nano-Tera.ch announced that it will provide CHF 2.2 million to support the interdisciplinary research and development of the implant.

Although mild cases of incontinence can be treated with medication, in severe cases doctors must attempt to repair the sphincter or implant an artificial one -- but the hydraulic sphincter implants that are currently available have major disadvantages. They exert significant and above all permanent pressure on the tissue, which can lead to damage of the anus, and can also be complicated to use.

Researchers led by Professor Bert Müller of the University of Basel's Biomaterials Science Center, in cooperation with associated partners, announced their plan to develop an implant that would contract and relax like a natural muscle.

The researchers said they will use about ten thousand plastic films, nanometer-thin, that become warped when exposed to a voltage. The technology already exists in principle, but miniaturization is needed to apply them in battery operated implants that can last for several years.

The components of the implant that convert electric signals into mechanical motion are to be designed and built based on electroactive polymers at the University of Basel. The necessary performance electronics will be developed by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA, Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs- und Forschungsanstalt). Clinicians from Bern and Schaffhausen will specify the required standards for the implant, and the University of Bern will conduct the testing.

Müller explains, "An intelligent sphincter would automatically increase the pressure when the patient coughs."

The project will be led by Professor Müller, who is the Thomas Straumann Professor of Materials Science in Medicine at the University of Basel. Other partners include the Medical Faculty of the University of Bern, Inselspital Bern, EMPA, and the hospitals of Schaffhausen. Together with their own funding of CHF 4.1 million the budget includes CHF 6.3 million for four years. Myopowers SA, which already has experience with artificial sphincters for the treatment of urinary incontinence, has provided support in-kind.