Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network

The department of surgery is recruiting 100 women for the largest federally funded urinary incontinence study in the country. The multi-center trial will compare the "Burch" and the "Sling" surgical procedures. The two procedures are the most common standard treatment options for stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

"Each of these procedures has an 85 percent to 90 percent success rate," said Dr. Stephen R. Kraus, principal investigator and assistant professor in the department of surgery. "Our study will now determine which of these standard procedures keeps women dry longer, requires the least hospital time and has the fewest side effects."

The National Institutes of Health is funding the trial with a $10 million grant; the Health Science Center is one of nine institutions selected to participate.

Women interested in the study must be at least 21 years old, have suffered from SUI for at least three months and have no neurological diseases. Participants can receive treatment at the Health Science Center, Wilford Hall Medical Center or the Texas Veterans Health Care System, Audie L. Murphy Division.

For more information, or to enroll in the study, call Caren Prather at ext. 7-0548 or Sylvia Escobedo Sluder at ext. 7-0550.

For more information about stress urinary incontinence, you can visit the sites below:

• www.niddk.nih.gov/health/urolog/pubs/uiwomen/uiwomen.htm
• www.living-with-urinary-incontinence.com/
• www.urologychannel.com/incontinence/index.shtml