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International Urogynecology Journal
Published in: International Urogynecology Journal 3/2016

01-03-2016 | Review Article

Polyacrylamide hydrogel (Bulkamid®) for stress urinary incontinence in women: a systematic review of the literature

Authors: Anushuya Devi Kasi, Vasilios Pergialiotis, Despina N. Perrea, Azar Khunda, Stergios K. Doumouchtsis

Published in: International Urogynecology Journal | Issue 3/2016

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Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis

Polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAHG, Bulkamid®) is one of several injectable agents currently used for the treatment of women with urinary stress incontinence. Although bulking agents appear to have lower efficacy rates compared to other surgical treatments, current evidence based on large prospective or comparative studies as well as systematic reviews is limited. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review on the efficacy of PAHG in the treatment of female patients with stress urinary incontinence with regard to reproducibility, feasibility, safety and clinical outcome.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE (1966–2015), Scopus (2004–2015), POPLINE (1974–2015) and ClinicalTrials.gov (2008–2015) along with reference lists of electronically retrieved studies. Observational studies, prospective, retrospective and randomized controlled studies were included. Two reviewers independently selected studies, assessed the risk of bias and tabulated data to structured forms.

Results

We included 8 studies, which enrolled a total of 767 patients who received treatment with PAHG. We found that 186 of 767 women (24.3 %, range 12–35 %) required reinjection in order to achieve adequate efficacy. The most frequent adverse effects were pain at the site of injection (4–14 %) and urinary tract infections (3–7 %). Both the number of incontinence episodes/24 h and the number of ml/24 h were significantly reduced 1 year following treatment and the quality of life of patients was significantly improved.

Conclusions

PAHG is a safe intervention for treating women with stress urinary incontinence, but repeat injections are often required. Further research is mandated in the field in order to compare its efficacy to other bulking agents.
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Metadata
Title
Polyacrylamide hydrogel (Bulkamid®) for stress urinary incontinence in women: a systematic review of the literature
Authors
Anushuya Devi Kasi
Vasilios Pergialiotis
Despina N. Perrea
Azar Khunda
Stergios K. Doumouchtsis
Publication date
01-03-2016
Publisher
Springer London
Published in
International Urogynecology Journal / Issue 3/2016
Print ISSN: 0937-3462
Electronic ISSN: 1433-3023
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-015-2781-y

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