treatment of severe urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy: experience with bioceram as a bulking agent

Background: to evaluate the efficacy of bioceram injection in men with severe stress urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy. methods: a total of 18 patients underwent retrograde injection of bioceram for severe stress urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy. evaluation by pad test, international consultation on the incontinence questionnaire - short form (iciq-sf) and american urology association symptom score - quality of life (auass-qol) was performed before and after injection therapy. patients were considered cured if they were using no pads or only one safety pad per day. results: of 18 patients, 14 had received postoperative external beam radiation therapy. furthermore, 5 patients required transurethral incision due to simultaneous stricture of the urethrovesical anastomosis. the baseline daily pad count changed from a mean of 6.1± 0.8 to 5.3 ± 1.7 (p = 0.010). none of the patients were cured and only 3 patients showed signs of improvement following injection. conclusion: in patients with severe urinary incontinence, treatment with bulking agent injection is associated with modest efficacy.