Inserting an artificial sphincter around the outlet of the bladder can improve the urine leakage that many elderly men experience following removal of the prostate gland for cancer and other diseases, according to a report in the journal Urology. The results suggest that age in itself is not a barrier to this treatment.
"Just because a patient is elderly doesn't mean that he won't be able to benefit from an artificial urinary sphincter for treatment of...incontinence," Dr R. Corey O'Connor from Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin told Reuters Health.
The cuff encircles the urine tube, or urethra, and most of the time it is inflated with salt water fluid so that it squeezes the urethra and prevents urine leakage. When the patient wants to urinate, he presses and releases the pump, located in the scrotum, which causes the salt water to shift from the cuff into the balloon, allowing urination to occur. A few minutes later, the cuff automatically refills. The device markedly reduced the number of pads needed to deal with urine leakage. In fact, seven of the men no longer required any pads.