Objectives: Undesired, uncontrolled leakage of urine occurs when the sphincter muscles, the muscles of the pelvic floor and bladder muscles do not work properly and consistently. Pelvic floor muscles training is a first-line conservative treatment for all types of incontinence in women. Functional magnetic stimulation (FMS) allows automated and standardized pelvic floor muscles training.
Methods: From 160 women included in the study of effects of an FMS, 36 suffered from urge urinary incontinence (UUI), 61 from stress urinary incontinence (SUI), 42 from mixed urinary incontinence (MUI), and 21 from incontinence after childbirth. All patients were treated with FMS twice a week for 8 weeks (16 therapies in total) using the treatment protocol adequate for the type of urinary incontinence. The results were obtained using a patient self-evaluation questionnaire and collected before starting the treatment and after finishing the last therapy.
Results: 58% of patients suffering from UUI were completely dry, 31% of patients showed significant improvement and 11% did not show any improvement after the treatment. 80% of patients suffering from SUI were completely dry after the therapy, 15% of patients showed significant improvement and 5% did not show any improvement. 69% of patients suffering from MUI were dry, 29% of patients showed significant improvement and 2% of women did not show any improvement. The best results are achieved with patients with urine incontinence after childbirth. 95% of women were completely dry after even less than 16 therapies.
Conclusions: The presented patients’ improvement and their positive feedback confirm previous literature reports that magnetic stimulation is an effective non-invasive therapeutic method for all types of incontinence. Further studies are required to determine other diagnostic parameters, long term effectiveness and the need to include a control group.
Read the full study: Treatment of Urinary Incontinence with Functional Magnetic Stimulation (FMS)