Abstract
The treatment of urinary incontinence is a booming business with over $26 billion being spent annually. Pharmacological research is rapidly increasing as scientists attempt to modulate complex micturition pathways to result in meaningful clinical improvement of conditions such as urge and stress incontinence. Antimuscarinic agents remain the mainstay in the treatment of urge incontinence with newer agents having functional selectivity for the bladder to prevent unwanted anticholinergic side effects. Other exciting pharmacological targets to treat urinary incontinence include β3 adrenoceptor agonists and agents that affect afferent pathways (i.e. neurokinin antagonists). Non-pharmacologic treatment of urinary incontinence includes various injectable agents, and electrical or magnetic stimulation. Finally, recent patents have addressed tissue engineering techniques to treat urinary incontinence via cultured chondrocytes, bladder smooth muscle, or muscle derived stem cells.