Objective : The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness and tolerability of autologous stem cell injection for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence.
Patients and Methods:This was a prospective study which involved 12 women with stress urinary incontinence. One hundred and twenty milliliters of bone marrow were aspirated under aseptic conditions from posterior superior iliac spine. MSCs were separated using plastic adherence and verification of the cell population done by morphology, immunophenotyping and trilineage differentiation potential. Patients received transurethral endoscopic or periurethral ultrasonography-guided injections of autologous bone marrow MSCs. Patients were followed up using voiding diaries, trans-vaginal ultrasonography, urodynamics and quality of life questionnaire over a 3 months period.
Results:The objective cure rate in these 12 patients was 85% subjective complete cure rate was 66.67% (8 patients), 2 patients improved partially (16.7%), 2 patients did not improve (16.7%). Overall mean increase in the bulk of sphincter as measured by transvaginal ultrasonography 3 months post stem cell injection was 15.39% which forms about 1/7 of the sphincter tissue bulk.
Conclusion:Autologous bone marrow derived MSC injection is a simple, safe and effective procedure for treating stress urinary incontinence. The short term results of the procedure show a success rate similar to that of the standard techniques; without their disadvantages in terms of complications especially voiding dysfunction. Further studies with long-term follow up are needed to assess the integrity of the results.
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