The annual meeting of the American Urological Association heard this week about a clinical study where women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) were treated using muscle-derived stem cell injections. It was hoped that the injections would strengthen the deficient urinary sphincter muscles responsible for the condition. The new research was based on previous studies at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where injecting stem cells into the urethral muscles of animal subjects led to a restoration of the deficient muscles.
The results of the new study, by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, suggest that the approach is safe, improves patients' quality of life, and may be an effective treatment for SUI. "The technique to achieve optimal efficacy is evolving, but we are pleased with what this study has shown," said Sunnybrook urologist, Lesley Carr. "We now have preliminary evidence that stem cells are safe to use and appear to improve female stress urinary incontinence."
In the United States, it's estimated that around 13 million people, most of them women, suffer from stress urinary incontinence. Affected women with SUI involuntarily lose urine during activities that put pressure on the bladder, such as running, coughing, sneezing or laughing. It is caused by childbirth, menopause or pelvic surgery and is most often diagnosed in women during middle-age.
Researcher Michael B. Chancellor is excited by the success of the trial, where 70 percent of the women reported improvement in bladder control and quality of life with no serious short- or long-term adverse effects. "We're demonstrating for the first time that we may be able to offer people with SUI a long-term and minimally invasive treatment." A follow-up study set to launch this summer will allow researchers to determine the optimal dose of muscle stem cells needed to effectively treat SUI.
Source: University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
