Highlights in the minimally invasive treatment of SUI in women

Treatment of stress urinary incontinence consists of a wide range of options, from conservative therapies like lifestyle changes, medication, pelvic floor muscles exercises, electro-stimulation, to minimally invasive procedures--injection of collagen, suburethral slings TVT/TOT and last but not least, invasive surgical treatment reserved for recurrent and complex cases. Among the latest minimally invasive procedures reported in literature, the injection of intra-and perisphincterian of autologous stem cell (mioblasts and/or mature fibroblasts grown and multiplied in the laboratory from biopsy samples taken from the pectoralis muscles).

On October 18, 2010, in 'Fundeni' Clinical Institute of Uronephrology and Renal Transplantation was performed the first stem cell implantation procedure in the urethral sphincter, in Romania.

Assessment at 6 weeks, the quality of life questionnaires, micturition diary and clinical examination revealed a stunning decrease of urine loss from 6 pads/day at one per day, which significantly improved the patient's quality of life.

Stem-cell-mioblasts therapy may represent in the future an every-day intervention in the urologist's armamentarium. The effectiveness of this treatment can change the course of therapy and last but not least, the accessibility to urological evaluation of patients with stress urinary incontinence. Clinical and urodynamic evaluations will continue and will be future scientific topics.