Pharmacological treatment of pure stress urinary incontinence: a narrative review.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS

Treatment escalation from conservative directly to surgical in the management of pure stress urinary incontinence (SUI) reveals a gap for effective pharmacological treatments. The introduction of a drug therapy would fill this gap and widen the treatment options. Nevertheless, various pharmaceutical agents have been used off-label and are being investigated and becoming more widely available. In this review, we examined the latest published data regarding pharmacotherapy used in the treatment of SUI.

METHODS

We performed a literature review to evaluate the relevant studies pertaining to any pharmacotherapy used in the management of SUI, examining the English language literature.

RESULTS

Currently, no drug exists that is approved by the food and drug administration for the management of SUI. A few oral pharmacological agents are occasionally used off-label. Lack of proven efficacy and high incidence of bothersome side effects of these agents limit their use. Duloxetine, a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, represents a major therapeutic advance for the treatment of SUI based on findings from a number of controlled clinical trials.

CONCLUSIONS

Several pharmacological agents have been used off-label and investigated for safety and efficacy, but none has demonstrated sufficient effectiveness to receive widespread verification for its use in the treatment of SUI.