Bulking agents for stress urinary incontinence in men

This study reviewed the use of bulking treatment for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in male patients. This study concluded that these agents improve SUI, at least in the short-term.

Urinary incontinence is the unintentional loss of urine. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) happens during physical movement or activity such as coughing, sneezing, running or heavy lifting. These activities put pressure (stress) on the bladder, causing it to leak. Bulking agents are one treatment option. A bulking agent is a material that is injected around the urethra; this narrows the urethra so leakage is less likely to occur.

It is unclear how effective this treatment is for SUI in male patients. 

This study reviewed 8 other studies on various bulking agents. The bulking treatments used were Macroplastique, Opsys, Durasphere, and Urolastic. 

Dry rates ranged between 0% and 83% between the studies. With Macroplastique, 48% of patients did not need any pads at 48 months. Patients who did not have an improvement after a first injection were offered repeat injections.

This study concluded that bulking agents may offer improvement in SUI at least in the short-term.

Some of the patients in this study were not followed up for a long time. Also, most studies included a very small number of participants. Further studies are needed with larger populations and longer follow-up.