CONDITIONS
Stress Urinary Incontinence: A Stressful Durasphere
Unfortunately, as women age, they often find themselves struggling with incontinence, one of the most common forms of which is called stress urinary incontinence. Though there are other forms of the condition including urge incontinence, which occurs due to a contraction of the bladder and is associated with an actual urge to urinate, stress urinary incontinence occurs when any type of physical movement puts added pressure on the bladder muscles. This added pressure can result in involuntary urination, also called urinary incontinence.
Stress Relief
Fortunately, medical advancements have led to the developments of a number of ways of treating incontinence, one of which involves the use of injections. Among these injectable agents for incontinence is called Durasphere® XP, which is a bulking agent made of pyrolytic carbon coated beads suspended in a water-based gel.
For women suffering from stress urinary incontinence, using Durasphere® injections to treat incontinence is an extremely hopeful alternative to more invasive treatment options like surgery, which might ultimately prove to be unnecessary as a result of the injections.
Bulk Up the Defenses
Durasphere® XP has been shown most effective in treating women for urinary stress incontinence caused by intrinsic sphincter deficiency, which may occur after pelvic surgery or another anti-incontinence procedure; after a woman has been through vaginal birth; or even in cases of a neurological problem. Any of these may cause a malfunction in the urethra and inhibit its ability to stay closed tightly enough to resist involuntary urination. In cases such as these, Durasphere® XP is injected at the neck of the bladder using either transurethral or sub-mucosal delivery to cause an increase in tissue bulk and bring the urethra together with the bladder neck.
Durasphere® XP has also shown marked results for improving continence over the course of time. The beads are also specially formulated to be large enough to stay in place, rather than migrating to other parts of the urinary tract; and unlike other bulking agents used to treat various medical conditions, the pyrolytic carbon coated beads used in Durasphere® will not be broken down by the body, ensuring that the injections will last longer. In fact, many women whose who have received injections of Durasphere® have been shown to experience effective results for at least five years.
All of the materials used in creating Durasphere® XP are also biocompatible, which means that it will not harm living tissues in the body. In fact, pyrolytic carbon coating has been successfully used in medical applications for more than three decades, most specifically in treating cardiology conditions involving the heart valve.
Naturally, Durasphere® injections will not be possible for all women, as various health conditions may ultimately make it ineffective or risky; but after the options have been discussed with a urogynecologist or other women’s healthcare specialist, its likelihood of efficacy will be determined on a case by case basis. At Coyle Institute, we offer our patients injections of Durasphere® in-office without the need for anesthesia, which means that they can safely drive themselves home right away.
Don’t let your health become a constant stress in your life! Consult with the caring team of experts at Coyle Institute today!