The Injection Treatment of Stress Incontinence

THE injection of sclerosing solutions has for some years been used as a method of treatment in ailments such as varicose veins, hydrocele, ganglion and inguinal hernia, the irritant solution stimulating the formation of fibrous tissue. Successful reports of this method in cases of inguinal hernia has prompted its trial for stress incontinence in patients who present varying degrees of anterior vaginal wall prolapse and in whom the main symptom is inability to hold water on coughing or straining. Patients are commonly met with in gynaecological clinics who with a degree of prolapse, too slight to warrant operation per se, require some effective treatment for their stress incontinence. In reviewing the literature I cannot find any report of the use of sclerosing fluids in stress incontinence, although urethroceles have thus been treated. Gersuny’ reported a case of fistula which he successfully treated by injecting paraffin. The method, however, does not seem to have been continued. In this first series of 20 cases a fair degree of success has been met with. For classification cases have been divided into first, second and third degrees according to the severity of the anterior vaginal wall prolapse.