Treatment of urinary incontinence in men with electrical stimulation: is practice evidence-based?

Electrical stimulation is frequently recommended for the treatment of urinary incontinence in men. However, few randomized, controlled trials allow practitioners to evaluate the evidence base for this practice. The purpose of this article is to determine, based on a review of the literature, whether adequate evidence exists to support the use of electrical stimulation as a treatment of male urinary incontinence. Urge, stress, and overflow incontinence are evaluated separately. This review led to 3 conclusions: (1) theoretical and urodynamic evidence exists to support the use of electrical stimulation for urge incontinence, (2) conflicting evidence exists in the use of electrical stimulation for stress urinary incontinence, and (3) treatment of overflow incontinence in men has not been evaluated in a systematic way. For both stress urinary or overflow incontinence, practitioners should consider the existing research before recommending electrical stimulation as a first line of treatment. For urge incontinence, electrical stimulation may be an effective first-line treatment strategy.