Antegrade techniques of collagen injection for post-prostatectomy stress urinary incontinence: the Washington University experience.

Treatment of sphincteric incontinence after radical retropubic prostatectomy remains a clinical challenge. Antegrade techniques of collagen injection are a relatively new method for treatment of post-prostatectomy incontinence. Early experience with this approach has demonstrated improved outcomes compared to the traditional retrograde technique. Overall response rates of 70% cure or significant improvement compare favorably with previously reported series. The theoretical advantages of this method include improved visualization of vesicourethral anastomosis and improved access to the bladder neck. Furthermore, suprapubic catheter drainage avoids the risks of collagen molding around the catheter. The use of a flexible cystoscope for this approach is a recent modification. The smaller diameter of the flexible cystoscope has facilitated access and reduced anesthetic requirements. This system affords unimpeded delivery of collagen to regions of the bladder neck where the submucosa accommodates the injectable agent. In addition, this modality allows more precise needle positioning to provide correct angle and depth of penetration into the submucosal plane. Short-term success rates of this procedure are encouraging and suggest that it may become the primary approach. While these antegrade techniques are more aggressive than the traditional retrograde approach, they are relatively simple and draw upon principles familiar to all urologists. It is hoped that the new flexible antegrade approach will further improve our results. Longer-term follow-up studies with larger numbers of patients will be required to see whether we can accomplish this goal.