Evelina London Children's Hospital has launched the UK's first paediatric bladder neuromodulation service.

The service will offer specialist procedures for children and young people with rare bladder conditions who haven't responded to standard treatment.

Bladder neuromodulation, otherwise known as sacral nerve stimulation, is a treatment where the patient has an electrical stimulator device, similar to a pacemaker, surgically implanted into their lower back.

Electrode wires run from the device to connect to the nerves from the base of the spine. Once the device is switched on, it sends electrical impulses through the wire to the nerves, to change the nerve messages going to the bladder. 

These changes prevent incorrect or unwanted nerve messages in the bladder which cause urinary incontinence or a young person not being able to empty their bladder without a catheter.

This is the first time in the UK a bladder neuromodulation service has been set up for children and young people.

Arash Taghizadeh, consultant paediatric urologist and lead for the bladder neuromodulation service at Evelina London, said: "Bladder problems in children are common, and the majority can be simply and effectively treated to improve symptoms. However, there is a small minority of children and young people who do not respond to standard treatments. They may be left with either distressing urinary incontinence or they may not be able to able to empty their bladder without passing a tube (catheter) into the bladder.

Evelina London is the largest centre in the UK performing standard and complex bladder investigations, known as urodynamics.

The specialist children's hospital also has wider expertise in using nerve stimulator devices in children, including running the oldest and largest paediatric deep brain stimulation service in the world.