Below you will find news and press releases from industry, government, and academia regarding product developments and medical/scientific research news.
Overactive Bladder Linked to Prostate Cancer ADT
Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) for prostate cancer is associated with an increased risk of overactive bladder (OAB), a finding consistent with an inhibitory role of androgen in modulating male voiding dysfunction, according to a new study. Compared with ADT recipients, healthy men and men receiving alpha blockers for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) had a significant 98% and 30% decreased risk of OAB, respectively, after adjusting for numerous potential confounding factors. Increased ADT duration increased the cumulative risk of OAB. Read more.
Source: Renal & Urology News, January 7, 2019
Tiny, Implantable Device Uses Light to Treat Bladder Problems
A team of neuroscientists and engineers has developed a tiny, implantable device that has potential to help people with bladder problems bypass the need for medication or electronic stimulators. The team—from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago—created a soft, implantable device that can detect overactivity in the bladder and then use light from tiny, biointegrated LEDs to tamp down the urge to urinate. The device works in laboratory rats and one day may help people who suffer incontinence or frequently feel the need to urinate. The new strategy is outlined in an article published Jan. 2 in the journal Nature. Read more.
Source: Medical Xpress, January 2, 2019
Prevalence of Urological Complications Among People Who Have Type 1 Diabetes
Major complications of type 1 diabetes include retinopathy, nephropathy, neuropathy, and cardiovascular disease. Other complications that are less studied are urological conditions. Urological complications can be severe for people who have type 1 diabetes. Some complications include sexual dysfunction, urinary tract infections, lower urinary tract symptoms, and urinary incontinence. Quality of life is a major concern with urological conditions and can negatively affect a person’s health. In addition, these issues are associated with higher A1C levels. The Urologic Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (UroEDIC) was established to study these complications. Read more.
Source: Diabetes in Control, December 22, 2018
Risk of Pelvic Floor Disorders Varied by Child Delivery Mode
The risk of pelvic floor disorders for women years after childbirth varied depending on mode of delivery, researchers found. Women with cesarean delivery had a lower hazard of stress urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, and pelvic organ prolapses compared with women with spontaneous vaginal deliveries, reported Joan L. Blomquist, MD, of Greater Baltimore Medical Center in Maryland, and colleagues. By contrast, women with operative vaginal delivery were associated with a higher hazard of anal incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, they wrote in JAMA. Read more.
Source: MedPage Today, December 18, 2018
InterStim Incontinence and Bladder Control Implant Now Controlled via App
Medtronic won FDA approval to introduce the InterStim smart programmer to control the company’s InterStim neurostimulation system used to manage overactive bladder, bowel incontinence, and some types of urinary retention. The InterStim system delivers sacral neuromodulation therapy via an implant that looks similar to a cardiac pacemaker. Read more.
Medgadget, December 17, 2018
Certain Sites of Brain Lesions in MS Tied to Bowel Incontinence
Specific locations of cerebral multiple sclerosis lesions appear to be associated with bowel incontinence, according to a study published online Dec. 11 in the Journal of Neuroimaging. Kilian Frohlich, M.D., from the University Hospital Erlangen in Germany, and colleagues used a voxel-wise lesion symptom mapping analysis to assess associations between bowel incontinence and cerebral multiple sclerosis lesions identified on magnetic resonance imaging of 51 patients. The researchers found associations between fecal incontinence in a total of 93 lesioned voxels, with 63 voxels located in the gray matter and 30 voxels in the white matter. Read more.
Source: Practice Update, December 17, 2018
Nocturia, Overactive Bladder Improved With PTNS
Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) improves overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms and decreases the number of nocturia episodes in patients who do not respond well to medication therapy, new study findings suggest. In a retrospective study of 183 female patients (mean age 74 years; 83% white) treated at a urogynecology center, 12 weeks of PTNS (30 minutes per week) reduced voiding frequency by 1 hour, nocturia episodes by 0.8, and urge incontinence by 10 episodes per week, Shilpa Iyer, MD, of the University of Chicago, and colleagues reported in International Urogynecology Journal. Previously, patients voided every 1.6 hours, awoke 2 to 3 times nightly to void, and averaged 3 urge incontinence episodes daily. Read more.
Source: Renal & Urology News, December 12, 2018