U-Scan wants your pee
Why we are looking forward to Withings’ new u-scan device
Ever wondered if your pee is working hard enough for you? Me neither, but it turns out that your urine could be put to good use in the very near future. As remote patient monitoring becomes the fastest-growing sector in the health industry—tracking everything from your heart rhythms, blood oxygen levels, breath rate, glucose levels, and even stress levels—things are about to take an interesting turn… towards the toilet.
It’s true that if you have a chronic illness such as heart failure, respiratory issues, or diabetes, your doctor can remotely monitor your symptoms using a device such as a smartwatch, a smart ring, or a glucose-testing patch. And although this tech is amazing, wouldn’t it be great if we could monitor a wider range of health issues?
Also, are smart monitoring devices that… smart? A quick look into remote patient monitoring and what it means for you
This is where pee-testing, or urinalysis, comes in. Our urine is more than just some yellow water we need to get rid of every few hours: it contains hormones, salts, proteins, minerals, bacteria, glucose, blood cells, enzymes, and much more. When a patient has high or low levels of any of these, it could point to a condition such as pregnancy, a serious infection like a urinary tract infection, or a disease such as kidney failure. Nursing homes sometimes use urinalysis to see whether dementia patients are receiving enough nutrients, as sometimes patients forget to eat or drink. Urinalysis gives a snapshot of what’s going on in our body, and nowadays, the results can be instant.
Urinalysis has been around for a long time, but new tech is making it more convenient and less messy.
Patients who have a known chronic illness, such as diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease and bile duct disease, are required to have their urine tested frequently. This can be difficult for people who live in rural or remote areas, as they might not be able to access a pathology clinic easily. It can also be difficult for elderly or disabled people who find leaving their homes a challenge. A solution to this problem is remote patient monitoring, where patients can test themselves and send the results to their doctor, who can advise on what the next steps should be.
At-home urinalysis kits are readily available from pharmacies, but they’re cumbersome to use: you either need to pee into a cup or hold a strip directly under your stream, and you must wait an exact amount of time, or the test could be compromised. Aiming into a cup can be tricky for many people, and having to handle your urine isn’t pleasant. The tests are also fairly limited and are not as accurate as a pathology lab can be, so patients still need to have semi-regular tests done professionally anyway. Several tech companies are working out solutions to make at-home urinalysis a lot easier and more accurate, and here at CaptureCare, we can’t wait until these products hit the market.
The most exciting product to be released soon will be the U-Scan by tech company Withings, who are best known for their smartwatches, blood pressure cuffs and body scanners. This promising little pod will sit inside the bowl of your toilet and will capture your urine to analyse it immediately. The results will be sent to your smartphone or smartwatch and can be sent to your doctor, too, if you opt in for remote patient monitoring. We’ve received many enquiries about this fascinating piece of pee-tech, so we’ve compiled your frequently asked questions here. We can’t wait for U-Scan to hit the market. It’s discreet, elegant and highly accurate and will save you time and trips to the clinic.
How does it all work?
Urine flows over the device, which activates sensors to begin testing. As urine passes over each different analyser (and there are many), results become apparent almost immediately and are sent to your smartphone or smartwatch. This information, or data, is collated into charts or graphs that can be viewed by logging into Withings’ app called Health Mate. If you have chosen to opt in for remote patient monitoring, your data is also sent to your doctor, who can view it instantly and contact you if there is anything to discuss.
How does it collect the urine?
The device is clipped inside the toilet bowl, and as a stream of urine passes over the device, a small amount will be captured inside a tiny hole at the bottom. The urine moves through a channel within the unit and flows into the main cartridge, which contains the sensors and analysers.
U-Scan is an elegant solution to a messy problem.
What can it detect?
U-Scan has the potential to test for many different biomarkers, which are molecules found in urine that point towards a medical condition or issue. Not all tests can fit inside one cartridge, so Withings has created different cartridges to test for certain things. The first two cartridges to be released onto the market will be a cycle tracker for women, called Cycle Sync, and a nutrition and well-being tracker, named Nutri Sync. Cycle Sync will look for biomarkers that show which day a woman is in her cycle and can point towards pregnancy or fertility. NutriSync will test whether a user is drinking enough fluids and is eating enough vitamins and minerals.
CaptureCare is most excited about the Nutri Sync cartridge because it will help patients to track their hydration and nutrition, which is especially helpful for diabetics who need to keep a close eye on their overall health and dementia patients who may forget to eat or drink.
Do I need to clean it?
Not really. U-Scan is designed to sit in the bowl permanently and will be cleaned with every flush, according to Withings, but I would personally give it a gentle scrub if the casing came into contact with faeces (poo). The insides of the device are protected against any pollutants, according to Withings.
The Author
Amelia Dickison
On a mission to stop the stoppable and prevent the preventable when it comes to our health and happiness
