FemTech – Making strides for women

While EU Member States discuss the Health Technology Assessment proposal, an EU-wide research tool to support decision-making on health technologies and innovation in the “FemTech” sector (encompassing fertility, pregnancy and nursing care, women’s sexual wellness and e-health technologies) promises to revolutionise the treatment of pelvic floor dysfunctions for women across Europe and beyond. Over 50 percent of women worldwide suffer from at least one of the following three pelvic floor dysfunctions: Stress urinary incontinence, faecal incontinence, and pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Read more.

Source: The Parliament, July 23, 2019

InControl Medical Introduces Attain at CES 2019

InControl Medical is proud to announce that Attain, the most advanced over-the-counter device available to treat male and female incontinence and the logical first choice for treatment, will be shown at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show (CES, January 8-11, Las Vegas Sands, Halls A-D – 43569). According to Herschel “Buzz” Peddicord, InControl’s founder and CEO, “This revolutionary medical device is designed to help treat the approximately 87 million people in the U.S. suffering with stress, urge, or mixed urinary incontinence, and/or bowel incontinence. Attain provides muscle stimulation, visual biofeedback, and a guided exercise program to solve incontinence at the source — the muscle level. Attain’s regular self-treatment program, in the privacy of one’s home, eliminates the need for pads, meds, surgery or diapers.” Read more.

Source: Business Wire, January 8, 2019

FDA Grants DeNovo Clearance to Atlantic Therapeutics for INNOVO® Therapy Device to Treat Stress Urinary Incontinence

Atlantic Therapeutics, a global manufacturer of innovative, garment-based pelvic floor muscle strengthening and nerve stimulation products, announced today (13.11.18) that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a DeNovo clearance for its INNOVO^® therapy device, an externally worn electrical muscle stimulator for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in adult females. INNOVO^® is the first transcutaneous electrical stimulation continence device to be cleared by the FDA, following results of two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) demonstrating it to be an effective and low-risk device for the treatment for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in adult females. Read more.

Source: Business Wire, November 13, 2018

Nearly Half of Women Over 50 Experience Incontinence, but Most Haven’t Talked to a Doctor

Nearly half of women over 50 say they sometimes leak urine — a problem that can range from a minor nuisance to a major issue — according to a new national poll. Of more than 1,000 women between the ages of 50 and 80 who answered the poll, 43 percent of women in their 50s and early 60s said they had experienced urinary incontinence, as had 51 percent of those age 65 and over. Yet two-thirds of these women hadn’t talked to a doctor about the sometimes embarrassing, little-discussed issue. And only 38 percent said they do exercises that can strengthen the muscles that can help keep urine in. The poll shows they’re finding ways of coping on their own – from using pads or special underwear to wearing dark clothing and limiting fluid intake. Read more.

Source: MHealth Lab, OCtober 31, 2018

Health Declines Are More Rapid in Older Women with Urinary Incontinence

As women age, their ability to get around affects their quality of life. A new study shows that older women’s physical functioning declines more rapidly if they develop urinary incontinence, according to public health researchers at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Catherine Pirkle and Yan Yan Wu, both assistant professors in the Office of Public Health Studies in the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, collaborated with researchers in Brazil, Colombia and Canada to recruit approximately 900 women in their sixties and seventies from those three countries plus Albania. About 25 percent of women over age 60 experience urinary incontinence. Study participants completed a short test of physical functioning, which included measuring the speed of their usual walking pace, checking their balance and testing how fast they could stand up from a chair. The women also completed a questionnaire about their health, which included a query about whether they had experienced any leakage of urine in the past week. After two years, the women repeated the physical functioning test. Read more.

Source: University of Hawai’i News, October 11, 2018

Screening for Urinary Incontinence in Women: A Recommendation

Recommendation on screening for urinary incontinence in women by the Women’s Preventive Services Initiative (WPSI), a national coalition of women’s health professional organizations and patient representatives. The WPSI’s recommendations are intended to guide clinical practice and coverage of services for the Health Resources and Services Administration and other stakeholders. The target audience for this recommendation includes all clinicians providing preventive health care for women, particularly in primary care settings. This recommendation applies to women of all ages, as well as adolescents. Read more.

Source: Annals of Internal Medicine, August 14, 2018

Nearly 1 in 2 Women Aged 45+ Report Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence occurs in nearly 1 in 2 women aged 45 years and older, a new study suggests. The study examined survey results from 143,096 women at baseline (2006–2009) and 59,060 women who participated in a follow-up survey (2012–2015). The prevalence of urinary leakage reported in these surveys was 44% and 44.6%, respectively, Kristine Concepcion, MD, MPH, of Family Planning NSW Ashfield in New South Wales, Australia, and colleagues reported in Neurourology and Urodynamics. Read more.

Source: Renal and Urology News, August 2, 2018

Intractable Urinary Incontinence Despite Treatments and Surgeries

My Story – Submitted by: Marguerite

I have suffered from intractable urinary incontinence for 20 years with many treatments and no success. I have undergone the so-called gold standard Burch Procedure surgery during which time I acquired Clostridium difficile in the hospital. I have had vaginal mesh surgery. I have tried Medtronic’s Interstim implant in my buttocks to stimulate my sacral nerve (which later was removed as no longer functioning) and have had several infusions of botox in my bladder. I have had cocktails injected to treat (non existent) interstitial cystitis and now I rely on self-catheterization to Continue reading→

More Than Just a Cosmetic Procedure — ‘Tummy Tuck’ Reduces Back Pain and Incontinence

In addition to restoring the pre-pregnancy shape of the abdomen, abdominoplasty (‘tummy tuck’) surgery with muscle repair can improve back pain and urinary incontinence after childbearing, reports a study in the March issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). Although abdominoplasty is classified as a cosmetic procedure, it also improves two of the most common physical complaints experienced by women after labor and delivery. According to the new research “Abdominoplasty has a proven functional benefit as well as a cosmetic benefit,” comments lead author D. Alastair Taylor, FRACS, of The CAPS Clinic in Deakin, Australia. Read more.

Source: EurekAlert, February 28, 2018

BewellConnect’s MyPeriTens Multi-Action Pelvic Floor Trainer

BewellConnect recently unveiled their new pelvic floor muscle trainer to help women with related issues, including post-partum complications and incontinence. The MyPeriTens device is both an electrical nerve stimulator and electrical muscle stimulator that is controlled through a smartphone app, allowing women to have precise control over the intensity and nature of the electrical signals delivered. The smartphone app has a number of routines built in that the woman can perform on her own, or with assistance of a physical therapist. Each routine can be selected to run at the patient’s preferred intensity level, maximizing benefits while keeping any pain and discomfort at a minimum. Read more.

Source: Medgadget, February 15, 2018