Conservative Management of Male Stress Urinary Incontinence

Abstract

Stress urinary incontinence is a demoralizing complication of common urologic procedures such as radical prostatectomy. Basic evaluation of postprostatectomy incontinence should include a careful history and physical examination with a focus on assessing the degree of incontinence and amount of bother and to rule out detrusor dysfunction. Evaluation can be supplemented by a voiding diary, pad test, urodynamics, and cystoscopy as indicated. Management options include behavioral modification, pelvic floor physical therapy, external drainage devices, and occlusive penile clamps. Randomized controlled trials have shown that pelvic floor physical therapy improves continence or enhances recovery of continence in the postoperative period but only when initiated before or immediately after catheter removal. Men who have intrinsic sphincter deficiency can be evaluated for injection of urethral bulking agents, including collagen, carbon-coated zirconium oxide beads, calcium hydroxylapatite particles, and heat-vulcanized polydimethylsiloxane. Injectable bulking agents have the advantage of being minimally invasive and are generally considered safe. However, multiple reinjections are often required due to deteriorating efficacy over time and thus should be considered only in patients with mild stress incontinence or in patients who are poor surgical candidates for slings or the artificial urinary sphincter. This review contains 3 figures and 54 references Key words: conservative management, injectable urethral bulking agents, pelvic floor physical therapy, postprostatectomy urinary incontinence, stress urinary incontinence