AUA and SUFU Release New Clinical Guideline on Urinary Incontinence after Prostate Treatment

Today, the American Urological Association (AUA), a leading global urology association, and the Society of Urodynamics, Female Pelvic Medicine & Urogenital Reconstruction (SUFU), released a new clinical guideline on the treatment of urinary incontinence after prostate treatment (IPT). IPT is one of the few urologic conditions that is iatrongenic, and therefore predictable, and often preventable. A condition that tends to cause a high degree of patient distress, IPT has gained visibility over the past several years due to the use of surgery to treat prostate cancer, as well as the proliferation of men’s continence products available to the lay public. Read more.

Source: PRNewswire, May 3, 2019

surgeons perform pelvic organ prolapse surgery

New Surgery for Prostate Cancer Can Cut the Chance of Incontinence

Up to a quarter of prostate cancer patients suffer temporary or permanent incontinence after surgery. Steve Gregory, 60, a retired IT director from Hampshire, underwent a procedure said to reduce this risk. ANGELA EPSTEIN reports.

THE PATIENT

As someone who has always been fit, I never thought that I’d develop prostate cancer. But for about a year before my diagnosis, I was waking up twice a night to go to the loo. In February 2016 I finally saw my GP, mainly because my close friend, Nick, had been diagnosed with the disease, so it was on my mind. Read more.

Source: DailyMail.com, November 13, 2017

Uromedica Wins CMS Coverage for ProAct Continence Therapy Device

Uromedica said today it won a reimbursement code from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services for its ProAct adjustable continence therapy for men, and that it launched the device in the US. The ProAct system has FDA approval and is indicated for treating adult men with stress incontinence from intrinsic sphincter deficiency of at least 12 months following radical prostatectomy or TURP who have failed ot respond to conservative therapy, the Plymouth, Minn.-based company said. “The issuance of these codes will allow Uromedica to deliver its safe and effective therapy to improve the quality of life for men struggling with Stress Urinary Incontinence,” prez & CEO Tim Cook said in a press release. Read more.

Source: MassDevice Today, July 12, 2017

U.S. Guidelines Relax Opposition to Prostate Cancer Screening

An influential physician task force backed by the U.S. government is softening its opposition to routine prostate cancer screening. In proposed guidelines released today, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force advised men aged 55 to 69 to discuss the pros and cons of screening with their doctors rather than avoiding it altogether. The task force continued to recommend against a blood test for prostate specific antigen (PSA) in men 70 and older, concluding the potential harms of routine screening still outweigh the benefits for this age group. Since the last guidelines came out in 2012, new evidence has emerged suggesting that PSA tests may help lower the odds that tumors spread to other parts of the body or prove fatal for men aged 55 to 69, said task force chair Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco. New evidence also suggests it’s becoming more common for doctors to skip aggressive treatments like surgery or radiation for men with low-risk prostate tumors in favor of doing periodic tests to see if tumors grow, an approach known as active surveillance. Read more.

Source: Reuters, April 11, 2017