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Improving urethral function has been an elusive target for researchers seeking viable treatments for stress urinary incontinence (SUI). However, Los Angeles researchers suggest that adipose-derived pluripotent cells may be a viable means to treat SUI and also improve urethral function. Using human cells obtained from liposuction specimens, investigators differenciated stem cells into smooth muscle, seeded the cells on carrier matrices and injected them into the proximal urethra of incontinent nude rats. Abdominal leak-point pressure and retrograde urethral perfusion pressure were measured both pre- and post-operatively. Smooth muscle cells seeded on the carrier matrix demonstrated long-term improvement, providing immediate bulking effects...

Volume 37, Issue 2, Page 46 doi:10.1016/S0300-7073(07)70107-X CHICAGO — Injection of adult autologous stem cells shows an excellent success rate for the treatment of urinary stress incontinence, compared with collagen injections, Dr. Matthias Schurich said at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. In the study of both women and men, 50 (79%) of the 63 patients randomized to transurethral ultrasound-guided injection of adult stem cells were completely continent after follow-up lasting 6–30 months, compared with only 2 (7%) of the 28 patients treated with endoscopic injection of collagen after 6–12 months, he reported on behalf of...

In the first clinical study of its kind in North America, women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) were treated using muscle-derived stem cell injections to strengthen deficient sphincter muscles responsible for the condition. Results of the study, led 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 findings will be presented at an experts' session at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) in Atlanta, and will be published in...