Recruiting

WeB Tools

Sponsor:

UCLA

Code:

NCT07451106

Conditions

Postpartum Bladder Dysfunction

Post-prostatectomy Bladder Dysfunction

Bladder Dysfunction

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

DFree Non-Invasive Bladder Ultrasound

Perifit Kegel Exerciser

Exit interview

Study Details

Brief summary:

Pelvic health physical therapy (PHPT) is an evidence-based intervention for bladder dysfunction (BD) and pelvic floor disorders (PFD) in men postprostatectomy, and postpartum women. However, there is a dearth of objective outcome measures - in particular, those that can capture changes remotely, between clinic visits. In other domains, such as physical activity, wearable digital devices have started to fill this gap. The investigators aim to evaluate if commercially available wearables for the bladder (WeB) can provide valid, objective outcomes to evaluate, monitor and treat people with BD and PFD. The WeB toolkit, comprising a wearable bladder ultrasound device and an intravaginal exerciser (women only), eventually aims to provide real-world, actionable data to both users and healthcare providers, thereby improving patient outcomes through closed-loop interventions. Preliminary studies in women with multiple sclerosis have shown strong associations with gold-standard clinical measures, suggesting that WeB tools could revolutionize care for these patients. However, the effectiveness of these tools in a wider range of patient demographics, especially postpartum women, and men, has yet to be established. The investigators seeks to extend the promising pilot findings to these additional 'special' populations seen in the PHPT clinic. The investigators hypothesize that the WeB tools will retain their accuracy and utility across these diverse groups. The investigators plan to i) validate WeB in these special populations against gold-standard clinical measures for BD, ii) evaluate the responsiveness of WeB tools to changes in outcomes before and after PHPT and iii) assess user experience in these populations. By ensuring the WeB tools' broad applicability, this research seeks to close the gap in continuous care and enable objective, personalized treatment strategies. The outcomes will have significant implications for the management of BD and PFD, potentially offering a more inclusive and empowering approach to patient care in women postpartum and men post-prostatectomy.

Conditions

Postpartum Bladder Dysfunction

Post-prostatectomy Bladder Dysfunction

Bladder Dysfunction

Study ID

NCT07451106

Start date

Jul 11, 2024

Status verified date

Feb, 2026

Completion date

Jul, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Jul, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Referral for pelvic health physical therapy
  • 18 years of age or older
  • Postpartum women: 8 or more weeks postpartum, manual muscle test greater than or equal to 2/5 pelvic floor muscle strength via Modified Oxford Scale
  • Men: status post radical prostatectomy after catheter removal

Exclusion Criteria:

  • cognitive, dexterity or visual impairment so severe that it precludes use of the neurotechnology tool or ability to use a smartphone
  • Postpartum women: any unhealed tears from childbirth, active vaginal infection or unresolved uterine bleeding, currently pregnant, have seen a pelvic health physical therapist in the past 3 months
  • Men: status post another surgery related to prostate, catheter placement more than 1 week after radical prostatectomy, post-op infection

Study Design

Enrollment

25 participants

Anticipated

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

Men post-prostatectomy with bladder dysfunction

Postpartum women with bladder dysfunction

Women with bladder dysfunction

Clinicians

Clinicians will be interviewed at the completion of the study to assess utility of wearables for the bladder in clinical care

Interventions

DFree Non-Invasive Bladder Ultrasound

For patient participants: The DFree is used to monitor the bladder fullness and track changes in the bladder fullness over time using an application on a mobile device. It is placed over the lower abdomen using an adhesive patch.

Perifit Kegel Exerciser

For (female) patient participants: The Perifit uses a bluetooth connection with mobile devices to allow contractions and relaxation from internal pelvic floor muscles to control video games. It measures the force and duration of contractions.

Exit interview

All participants will be asked to complete modified Health IT Usability Evaluation Model (Health-ITUEM) surveys, to evaluate bladder wearable devices in these populations

Primary outcome measure

  • Comparison between in clinic and wearable post-void-residual [ Time Frame: baseline ]
  • Bladder wearables - usefulness (patient groups) [ Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 3 months ]
  • Bladder wearables - usefulness (clinician) [ Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 3 month ]
  • Feasibility of deploying bladder wearables [ Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 3 months ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

University of California San Francisco Weill Institute for Neurosciences

Recruiting

San Francisco, California, United States, 94158

Contacts

Valerie J Block, PT, DPTSc

619-841-8377valerie.block@ucsf.edu

Principal Investigator:

Valerie Block, PT, DPTSc

More Information

Sponsor

University of California, San Francisco

Last update posted

Mar 5, 2026

Last verified

Feb, 2026

Keywords

  • bladder dysfunction
  • pelvic health physical therapy
  • wearables

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of California, San Francisco on 2026-03-05.