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3 December 2004
Incontinence Cured With Stem Cells 
In a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Austrian researchers said they had used the patient's own muscle-derived stem cells to successfully treat incontinence. "Urinary incontinence is a major problem for women," said Ferdinand Frauscher, head of uroradiology at University Hospital in Innsbruck. "We believe we have developed a long-lasting and effective treatment that is especially promising because it is generated from the patient's own body." Stress incontinence affects primarily women. It occurs when the urethra narrows or becomes otherwise abnormal, or when the sphincter muscles that help open and close the urethra become weak or diminished, causing urine leakage when an individual exercises, coughs, sneezes, laughs or lifts heavy objects. In the Austrian research, women - aged between 36 and 84 - who were experiencing incontinence, had stem cells removed from their arm, cultured and then injected into the wall of the urethra and into the sphincter muscle. The result is increased muscle mass and contractility of the sphincter and a thicker urethra. Many patients have no urinary leakage within 24 hours after the 20-minute outpatient procedure. "These are very intelligent cells," Dr. Frauscher said. "Not only do they stay where they are injected, but also they quickly form new muscle tissue and when the muscle mass reaches the appropriate size, the cell growth ceases automatically." Dr. Frauscher said the cost of the stem cell procedure was comparable to two popular treatments for incontinence: the long-term purchase and use of absorbents, such as adult diapers, and collagen injections, which show improvement during the first six months but often result in symptoms returning after a year. Dr. Frauscher also said the stem cell treatment appears to be more successful with women at this time.
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