Para-urethral collagen implantation for female stress incontinence

A series of 25 women with genuine stress incontinence were treated by para-urethral injection of glutaraldehyde cross-linked collagen. The technique was simple and associated with few complications. Follow-up at 3 months revealed 20 patients (80%) to have been symptomatically improved or cured. An increase in urethral closure pressure together with a decrease in urine flow rate and increase in detrusor pressure was found post-operatively. The success rate was significantly higher (90%) in patients who had undergone previous surgery for urinary incontinence when compared with those who had had no previous surgery (73%).