Introduction and hypothesis: Treatment escalation from conservative directly to surgical in the management of pure stress urinary incontinence (SUI) reveals a gap for effective pharmacological treatments. The introduction of a drug therapy would fill this gap and widen the treatment options. Nevertheless, various pharmaceutical agents have been used off-label and are being investigated and becoming more widely available. In this review, we examined the latest published data regarding pharmacotherapy used in the treatment of SUI.
Methods: We performed a literature review to evaluate the relevant studies pertaining to any pharmacotherapy used in the management of SUI, examining the English language literature.
Results: Currently, no drug exists that is approved by the food and drug administration for the management of SUI. A few oral pharmacological agents are occasionally used off-label. Lack of proven efficacy and high incidence of bothersome side effects of these agents limit their use. Duloxetine, a serotonin norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, represents a major therapeutic advance for the treatment of SUI based on findings from a number of controlled clinical trials.
Conclusions: Several pharmacological agents have been used off-label and investigated for safety and efficacy, but none has demonstrated sufficient effectiveness to receive widespread verification for its use in the treatment of SUI.