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Glean™ Urodynamics System

The Glean™ Urodynamics System (Bright Uro) is the first wireless, catheter-free ambulatory urodynamics platform — FDA 510(k) cleared in 2025. A small flexible sensor is inserted transurethrally into the bladder, where it coils to self-retain, transmits bladder-pressure data via Bluetooth to a patient-worn receiver, and is retrieved after hours-to-days of ambulatory recording via a thin retention string.

Design​

  • Silicone sensor tube housing a miniature pressure transducer
  • Self-coiling bladder retention — the tube curls into a coil once deployed inside the bladder (similar principle to a pigtail catheter coil)
  • Bluetooth transmitter — continuous wireless data streaming to a patient-worn receiver
  • Retrieval string — thin tether exits the urethra, taped to the perineum / thigh
  • Retrieval — patient (or clinician) pulls the string; the sensor uncoils and exits the urethra in <6 seconds

What It Solves​

Traditional catheter-based office urodynamics (UDS) carries well-known limitations:

  • Catheter-in-urethra distorts outlet dynamics — the very thing the test is trying to measure
  • Artificial clinic environment — patient not in natural voiding conditions; performance anxiety
  • Forced bladder filling — not physiologic; misses the low-compliance / urgency patterns that emerge during natural filling
  • Single time-point — one session cannot capture diurnal variation
  • Patient discomfort and embarrassment — reduces willingness to undergo repeat or follow-up studies

The Glean addresses each: no catheter in the urethra during recording, natural ambulatory conditions, physiologic filling, multi-hour-to-overnight monitoring, minimal patient discomfort.

Clinical Use Cases​

  • Refractory OAB / UUI — capture urgency episodes in the patient's daily environment
  • Neurogenic bladder — particularly in patients in whom clinic UDS is technically difficult or produces equivocal data
  • Post-prostatectomy / post-radiation incontinence — characterize the pattern in real-life conditions
  • Pre-operative evaluation before complex reconstruction
  • Symptom-signal correlation — pair ambulatory urodynamic pressures with patient-kept voiding diary

Where It's Deployed​

Cleveland Clinic was the first site to use the Glean commercially in June 2025. Adoption is expanding through academic urology and urogynecology programs with dedicated urodynamics practices.

Limitations​

  • New technology — real-world comparison data against conventional UDS still accumulating
  • Insurance coverage — variable at this early stage
  • Patient self-retrieval — the retrieval-string mechanism requires patient cooperation
  • Cost — disposable sensor component adds per-study cost

See also: Intermittent Catheter, Urodynamics (traditional UDS reference).