Researchers at the University of Limerick have been awarded in excess of €300K to commercialise a safety device for transurethral catheter deployment. Developed by a multidisciplinary team based at the University of Limerick, the device aims to improve deployment of transurethral catheters which affects 10-25% of hospitalised patients.

Principal Investigator, Dr Michael Walsh, UL explains the significance of the device “Due to the blind nature of the procedure, identification of the exact location of the retention-balloon when placing urethral catheters is highly variable. The incidence of injuries associated with the current method of insertion of urethral catheters is 7 per 1000 patients. We have developed a device which will ensure safer deployment of catheters and therefore substantially reduce the risk of injury to patients. The potential for this device is significant with the current global market seeing almost 100 million devices deployed in a year.”

This project won the inaugural Cleveland Clinic & Enterprise Ireland Clinical Innovation Award in October 2011 and consequently benefits from collaboration with the renowned Clinic. This research was undertaken at the Centre for Applied Biomedical Engineering Research (CABER), Materials and Surface Science Institute (MSSI), UL and is funded by Enterprise Ireland Commercialisation Programme.