Combined injections tried for incontinence: collagen plus durasphere.(News)

LAS VEGAS -- Women who received injections of both collagen and Durasphere to treat stress urinary incontinence caused by intrinsic sphincter deficiency had better outcomes at 2 weeks than did those who received collagen alone, but that advantage was gone by 6 months, Dr. Eric Sokol reported.

Cure rates for overall urinary incontinence and urinary stress incontinence were significantly higher 2 weeks after treatment in 33 women given both injections, compared with 47 women given collagen alone, in a retrospective study.

Still, there was no significant difference in outcomes between groups at 6 months, he said during the annual meeting of the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists.

The study is one of the first to examine the effectiveness and durability of combining these two treatments, and it won the first-place prize for poster presentations at the meeting.

The study was powered to detect at least a 30% difference in cure rates between the two groups, noted Dr. Sokol of Brown University, Providence, R.I.

Because collagen is easy to inject in an outpatient setting and its associated complications are rare, urethral injections of purified bovine collagen gained acceptance for the treatment of stress incontinence caused by intrinsic sphincter deficiency.

Initial enthusiasm for this treatment waned, however, because collagen degrades over time, necessitating frequent readministration to maintain symptom control.