Teenager gets UK’s first ‘bladder pacemaker’ at Evelina Hospital – South London News

A 17-year-old has become the first teenager to receive a ‘bladder stimulator’ as part of a new service at Evelina London Children’s Hospital.

In a UK premiere, Evelina London Children’s Hospital, in Westminster Bridge Road, has launched a bladder neuromodulation service for children and young people.

Jenny Allan, from Thanet, Kent, was the first teenager to undergo the procedure.

Mrs Allan has a rare condition which means she cannot urinate and has to ‘self-catheterize’ herself every few hours to empty her bladder.

She said the specialist treatment gave her a “new freedom” to pursue her dream job as an environmentalist.

She said: “I’m very outdoorsy and will be studying ecology at university in September and hope to get a job in this field.

“If I’m lucky, I might end up hiking through a rainforest or counting penguins in Antarctica!

“This operation meant I wouldn’t have to self-catheterize myself six times a day. Doing this is quite difficult even on a day trip to the Kent Downs, where there are no toilets every few hours, let alone in the middle of a rainforest or up a mountain!”

The Evelina Children’s Hospital service offers specialist procedures for children and young people with rare bladder conditions that have not responded to standard treatment.

An electronic stimulation device – similar to a pacemaker – was surgically implanted in the patient’s lower back.

Electrode wires run from the device to connect to nerves at the base of the spine.

Once the device is turned on, it sends electrical impulses through the wire to the nerves to change the nerve messages that go to the bladder.

These changes prevent incorrect or unwanted nerve messages in the bladder that cause urinary incontinence, or a young person unable to empty their bladder without a catheter.

Arash Taghizadeh, Consultant Pediatric Urologist and Head of Bladder Neuromodulation Service at Evelina London, said: “Bladder problems in children are common and most can be treated simply and effectively to improve symptoms.

“But there is a small minority of children and young people who do not respond to standard treatments.

“Bladder neuromodulation is a specialty procedure that has been available to adults for more than 20 years. It’s great that we are able to offer it to children and young people to improve their symptoms, giving them greater independence in everyday life.”

Evelina London is the UK’s largest center for standard and complex bladder investigations known as urodynamics.

The Children’s Specialist Hospital also has wider expertise in the use of nerve stimulation devices in children, including running the oldest and largest pediatric deep brain stimulation service in the world.

The new service was funded by the Evelina London Children’s Charity.

Barbara Kasumu, chief executive of Evelina London Children’s Charity, said: “We are so proud to have funded the new neuromodulation bladder service, which for the first time in the UK will help give children and young people like Jenny a new feeling of freedom. .”

Top image: Jenny Alan and her dog Amber (Image: Jenny Alan)

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