Transurethral collagen injection for treatment of postprostatectomy urinary incontinence in men.

OBJECTIVES

Transurethral injection of glutaraldehyde cross-linked bovine collagen has recently been advocated as a potentially useful treatment modality for management of urinary incontinence. The reported clinical experience with urethral collagen injection in adult males has been limited.

METHODS

This study summarizes the current literature and reviews the clinical results of collagen injection in a group of 25 men with incontinence after either transurethral or radical prostatectomy.

RESULTS

The overall results in this series were disappointing. Only 2 patients (8%) achieved significant improvement with this treatment. Eight patients (32%) experienced minimal improvement in symptoms, and 15 (60%) remained incontinent with no improvement in symptoms after collagen injection. The number of injection procedures and volume of collagen material implanted did not correlate with clinical outcome. Five patients (20%) have subsequently required placement of an artificial urinary sphincter to control their incontinence.

CONCLUSIONS

We conclude that transurethral injection of glutaraldehyde cross-linked bovine collagen has a limited role in the management of urinary incontinence in adult men after prostatectomy.