Coloplast's revolutionary sling for male stress urinary incontinence elevates and compresses the urethra.

Men suffering from stress urinary incontinence (SUI) can look forward to improved management of their condition with the launch in the United States of America of a new incontinence sling called Virtue.

The sling is the first to both elevate and compress the urethra, a key step towards achieving continence. Existing SUI treatments either elevate or compress but not both together.

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The Virtue sling

The "arms" of the sling are routed through the patient's tissue, which heals and "scars" into place, anchoring the sling's mesh, creating a long-term incontinence solution.

"Our trials so far reveal patients experiencing significantly less urine leakage. And unlike with other treatments, such as the implantable, artificial urinary sphincter, the patient is not required to manipulate a device in order to urinate," says Joel Chechik, Global Director of Marketing, Men's Health for Coloplast US. Chechik continues, "Doctors like using Virtue because it is much less invasive than existing treatments, and comes in a complete kit which typically takes around 20 minutes to implant."

Yelena Tropsha, Coloplast US's Director of R&D adds, "Sling therapy has so far been most effective for patients with a mild to moderate condition of SUI. With Virtue, we see doctors treating patients in the moderate-to-severe category with considerable success. We recently heard that a patient with severe SUI had gone from six to one incontinence pad a day after receiving a Virtue sling operation."

Elevation and compression

Stress urinary incontinence often affects men who have had all or part of their prostate removed and occurs when abdominal pressure increases, such as when you cough, laugh or jump, having a significant impact on quality of life.

Urethral elevation is essentially a realignment, returning it to its pre-prostatectomy position and supporting the man's natural anatomical structure, while compression of the urethra helps provide the resistance necessary to ensure bladder control.

Long-term solution

The sling is implanted via a single small incision that allows its "arms" to be routed through the patient's tissue. It is sometimes tacked with a suture. After a short time, the tissue heals and "scars" into place, anchoring the the sling's mesh and creating a long-term incontinence solution.

The Virtue male sling is available in the US now, and it is hoped the product will be available around the world soon.