Autologous Adult Stem-Cell Therapy for Treating Stress Incontinence

Nearly 80% of incontinent women have stress incontinence: The striated muscle component of the sphincter can be injured by childbirth or pelvic surgery, or it can just weaken with age. Previous small studies have found that myoblasts and fibroblasts from any striated muscle can function like the striated muscle of the urethral sphincter when transplanted to the sphincter.

In a randomized trial involving 63 women, Austrian researchers (some with ownership positions in a company based on the technology) compared a traditional treatment approach of injecting collagen with a new approach — injection of autologous myoblasts and fibroblasts into the sphincter area under ultrasonic guidance. The cells were harvested from a small incision biopsy in …