Bladder Biomechanics and Shape Characterization: Comparison Study of Healthy vs BPH using Uro-Dynamic MRI

Motivation: Current standards for assessing the lower urinary tract (LUT) provide limited anatomical information. Uro-Dynamic MRI proves to be a valuable non-invasive tool for LUT biomechanics analysis. Bladder shape has been studied in static imaging but not in dynamic imaging. Goal(s): Build a comprehensive, non-invasive framework to study bladder biomechanics in healthy and diseased subjects. Approach: Uro-Dynamic MRI was implemented and used in five healthy and five BPH subjects. Novel MRI-derived bladder shape metrics were developed and quantified in all subjects. Results: We observe quantifiable differences on correlation coefficients of flowrates and calculated bladder shape metrics between healthy and patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia. Impact: Uro-Dynamic MRI allows biomechanical and shape analysis of the lower urinary tract(LUT), allowing comparisons between healthy and diseased subjects. Higher correlation values with flowrates observed on healthy subjects. Coupled Bladder biomechanical and shape analysis allows potential characterization of LUT disease.