The Shape of the Urine Stream — From Biophysics to Diagnostics

We develop a new computational model of capillary-waves in free-jet flows, and apply this to the problem of urological diagnosis in this first ever study of the biophysics behind the characteristic shape of the urine stream as it exits the urethral meatus. The computational fluid dynamics model is u...

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Autores principales: Wheeler, Andrew P. S., Morad, Samir, Buchholz, Noor, Knight, Martin M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3473049/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23091609
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047133
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author Wheeler, Andrew P. S.
Morad, Samir
Buchholz, Noor
Knight, Martin M.
author_facet Wheeler, Andrew P. S.
Morad, Samir
Buchholz, Noor
Knight, Martin M.
author_sort Wheeler, Andrew P. S.
collection PubMed
description We develop a new computational model of capillary-waves in free-jet flows, and apply this to the problem of urological diagnosis in this first ever study of the biophysics behind the characteristic shape of the urine stream as it exits the urethral meatus. The computational fluid dynamics model is used to determine the shape of a liquid jet issuing from a non-axisymmetric orifice as it deforms under the action of surface tension. The computational results are verified with experimental modelling of the urine stream. We find that the shape of the stream can be used as an indicator of both the flow rate and orifice geometry. We performed volunteer trials which showed these fundamental correlations are also observed in vivo for male healthy volunteers and patients undergoing treatment for low flow rate. For healthy volunteers, self estimation of the flow shape provided an accurate estimation of peak flow rate ([Image: see text]). However for the patients, the relationship between shape and flow rate suggested poor meatal opening during voiding. The results show that self measurement of the shape of the urine stream can be a useful diagnostic tool for medical practitioners since it provides a non-invasive method of measuring urine flow rate and urethral dilation.
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spelling pubmed-34730492012-10-22 The Shape of the Urine Stream — From Biophysics to Diagnostics Wheeler, Andrew P. S. Morad, Samir Buchholz, Noor Knight, Martin M. PLoS One Research Article We develop a new computational model of capillary-waves in free-jet flows, and apply this to the problem of urological diagnosis in this first ever study of the biophysics behind the characteristic shape of the urine stream as it exits the urethral meatus. The computational fluid dynamics model is used to determine the shape of a liquid jet issuing from a non-axisymmetric orifice as it deforms under the action of surface tension. The computational results are verified with experimental modelling of the urine stream. We find that the shape of the stream can be used as an indicator of both the flow rate and orifice geometry. We performed volunteer trials which showed these fundamental correlations are also observed in vivo for male healthy volunteers and patients undergoing treatment for low flow rate. For healthy volunteers, self estimation of the flow shape provided an accurate estimation of peak flow rate ([Image: see text]). However for the patients, the relationship between shape and flow rate suggested poor meatal opening during voiding. The results show that self measurement of the shape of the urine stream can be a useful diagnostic tool for medical practitioners since it provides a non-invasive method of measuring urine flow rate and urethral dilation. Public Library of Science 2012-10-16 /pmc/articles/PMC3473049/ /pubmed/23091609 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047133 Text en © 2012 Wheeler et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Wheeler, Andrew P. S.
Morad, Samir
Buchholz, Noor
Knight, Martin M.
The Shape of the Urine Stream — From Biophysics to Diagnostics
title The Shape of the Urine Stream — From Biophysics to Diagnostics
title_full The Shape of the Urine Stream — From Biophysics to Diagnostics
title_fullStr The Shape of the Urine Stream — From Biophysics to Diagnostics
title_full_unstemmed The Shape of the Urine Stream — From Biophysics to Diagnostics
title_short The Shape of the Urine Stream — From Biophysics to Diagnostics
title_sort shape of the urine stream — from biophysics to diagnostics
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3473049/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23091609
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0047133
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