Overview

Men may develop urinary incontinence (leakage) for a variety of reasons. The various forms of incontinence include – stress, urge, and neurogenic incontinence.

Male stress incontinence occurs due to urinary sphincter weakness or absence following surgical removal of the prostate (open, laparoscopic, robotic radical prostatectomy) or endoscopic surgery to treat an enlarged prostate (TURP, laser prostate resection, microwave therapy).

This section will deal with male stress urinary incontinence.

Symptoms

Stress incontinence symptoms include urinary leakage following an increase in abdominal pressure (e.g., laughing, coughing, sneezing, straining). Some men might leak urine after standing for a length of time or walking.

Diagnosis

Evaluation of stress incontinence. 2 tests are usually recommended: urodynamics and cystoscopy. These are important tests that aid in assessing the urinary sphincter, the quality of the bladder (how much the bladder can hold and at what pressure) and appearance of the urethra lumen. There are some men who leak urine because they have high bladder pressures, or overactive bladder. Unfortunately, this condition is not amenable to surgical therapy.

Following such the above tests, the urologist should discuss the findings and potential surgical options with the patient. Surgical therapy for male stress incontinence includes the suburethral male sling and the artificial urinary sphincter.