Endourethral prosthesis for treatment of detrusor sphincter dyssynergia: impact on quality of life for persons with spinal cord injury.

Neurogenic bladders with detrusor sphincter dyssynergia (DSD) are common in persons with spinal cord injury and with multiple sclerosis. Treatment options such as sphincterotomy, urethral foley and suprapubic catheters are not without complications or failure; however, they are recommended for patients who are unable to do intermittent catheterization. An endourethral prosthesis for DSD has been developed for experimental use in the United States. We report one year results of the clinical trials with endourethral prostheses implanted in ten patients. Initial subjective and objective results show an 80% success rate. At present, preliminary data show that an endourethral prosthesis, which is simple to insert and has few complications, appears to offer an alternative to conventional treatment. A key to success is to prepare for changes in life style that impact the patient's quality of life. Both patient and staff education are necessary pre-operatively to achieve successful outcomes post-operatively.