Male Incontinence
Urinary incontinence is loss of normal control of the bladder and involuntary loss of urine.
Individuals with urinary incontinence may experience strong, sudden, urgent and uncontrollable need to urinate, frequent urination and also involuntary loss of urine.
Urinary Incontinence may be caused by any of these factors:
- Weak bladder muscles
- Overactive bladder muscle
- Urinary tract infection
- Specific prostate conditions
- Neurological disorders
Urinary incontinence can be categorized into five basic types depending on the symptoms:
- Stress Incontinence
- Urge Incontinence
- Overflow Incontinence
- Functional Incontinence
- Mixed Incontinence
Stress Incontinence:Leakage of small amounts of urine during physical movement such as coughing, sneezing, lifting heavy objects, and straining that suddenly increases the pressure within the abdomen.
Urge Incontinence:Leakage of large amounts of urine at unexpected times, including during sleep.
Overflow Incontinence:Uncontrollable leakage of small amount of urine because of an incompletely emptied bladder.
Functional Incontinence:This refers to urine loss resulting from inability to get to a toilet.
Mixed Incontinence:Mixed incontinence is the presence of two or more types of incontinence in an individual. Most commonly, urge and stress incontinence occur together.
Symptoms remain the mainstay of diagnosis and you may be ordered additional tests to identify and confirm the cause for incontinence. These tests include bladder stress test, urine analysis and urine culture, ultrasound diagnosis, cytoscopy and urodynamic.
Treatment depends on the cause, sex and severity of incontinence. Treatment options for male incontinence include medications, behavioural therapy such as bladder training, Kegel exercises, surgery.
Stress urinary incontinence can be treated with:
Advanced sling procedurewhich involves the placement of a sling made of body tissue or synthetic material to support the urethra.
Artificial inflatable urinary sphincterwhich consists of 3 parts:
- Cuff: controls urine flow through the urethra
- Balloon: regulates pressure in the cuff
- Pump: inflates cuff