For many women, especially those who have had children, leakage of urine is a common complaint. So, too, is an urgency to use the bathroom.

These conditions are among the most common pelvic floor issues affecting women, according to Dr. Olivia Cardenas-Trowers, a Mayo Clinic urogynecologist. Pelvic floor disorders vary, but they are more common than most people might think.

Watch: Dr. Olivia Cardenas-Trowers talks about common bladder issues for women of all ages.

Journalists: Broadcast-quality video is available in the downloads at the end of the post. Please courtesy: Mayo Clinic News Network. Name super/CG: Olivia Cardenas-Trowers, M.D./Gynecology/Mayo Clinic.

Not uncommon

"About 1 in 4 women over age 20 have some type of pelvic floor disorder, and that can include leakage of urine or stool; urgency; as well as other issues, such as feeling like their vagina is coming down," says Dr. Cardenas-Trowers.

A common misconception is that pelvic floor disorders only occur in the elderly or they occur at a certain age. But that is untrue, says Dr. Cardenas-Trowers. "These issues are more common in people who are in their 40s and 50s and older, but that can happen in younger people for various reasons."

Overactive bladder is a condition that causes a sudden urge to urinate. The condition is estimated to affect about 33 million Americans.

With a healthy bladder, the brain signals that the bladder is getting full. "When you get to a bathroom, your bladder muscles contract and force urine out of the bladder. Overactive bladder can result from the nerve signals between the bladder and the brain not functioning properly. People with overactive bladders frequently feel a sudden urge to urinate," says Dr. Cardenas-Trowers.

Overactive bladder may be difficult to control. The need to pass urine many times during the day and night may unintentionally result in the loss of urine, known as urgency incontinence.

Stress incontinence — the leakage of urine when they cough, sneeze, laugh or exercise — is a condition many women report as they age. Pelvic prolapse, where the structures inside the body are not sitting where they should, also can affect the bladder based on how the vagina or uterus are positioned and if they may be pushing on the bladder.

Potential treatment

"Many women believe that these issues are normal and nothing can be done. Conversely, other women are embarrassed or uncomfortable discussing pelvic issues. I encourage all women to speak to their health specialist if they are experiencing any pelvic floor concerns. Contrary to belief, there are now many options to help manage symptoms and improve one's quality of life," says Dr. Cardenas-Trowers.

"Simple behavioral strategies, such as dietary changes, timed voiding and bladder-holding techniques, may be helpful for some women. Pelvic floor therapy exercises can also be valuable, but there are also medical and surgical treatment options available," she adds.

A brief evaluation with a urogynecologist can determine whether there is a specific cause of bladder issues and what treatments can best manage the symptoms.

Related posts:

• 5 tips to prevent a urinary tract infection.
• Mayo Clinic Q and A: How to treat painful bladder syndrome.
• Mayo Clinic Minute: Treatment options for stress urinary incontinence.

The post Bladder issues common for women of all ages appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Mayo Clinic is taking a regenerative approach to women’s healthcare to provide new therapeutic options for common conditions that standard treatments don’t fully address. One key area of focus is pelvic floor injury that leads to stress incontinence, a widespread and often embarrassing problem affecting some 18 million women, according to the National Association for Continence.

With support from the Mayo Clinic Center for Regenerative Medicine, researchers are probing ways to direct cells to grow new skeletal muscle and restore the body’s ability to control the release of urine and stool.

“These are clearly embarrassing situations for our patients, and I believe that often there’s an under representation of women who deal with this. For every patient I have in my office, there’s probably another 5 or 10 who are not coming in because she’s embarrassed to talk about it,” says Emanuel Trabuco, M.D., a urogynecologist at Mayo Clinic.

Life events unique to women such as childbirth, pregnancy and menopause may injure and weaken sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra — the tube through which urine passes out of the body. That can lead to involuntary leaking of urine, particularly when a woman laughs, coughs or sneezes.

Since the late 1990’s, the standard surgical treatment for stress incontinence has been a polypropylene mesh sling implant that supports the urethra. However, even with the sling, some women still experience involuntary leakage. Mayo Clinic researchers are seeking regenerative solutions that would bolster standard treatments and provide new therapeutic choices.

The research

Mayo Clinic researchers are investigating the use of purified exosomal products (PEP) to grow skeletal muscles that could strengthen the pelvic floor. PEP is a cell-free product developed at Mayo Clinic that can be used right at the hospital without the need to grow cells in a lab. PEP contains molecules that direct stem cells to grow and make new muscle, thereby repairing areas of injury. Researchers discovered that PEP could repair the injured urethral sphincter muscle and re-establish pre-injury pressures using an animal model. The histological evaluation showed new muscle tissue and less inflammation at the site of the injury. They hope that these findings could be translated into a new treatment to control stress incontinence in humans.

“If this works, this would be the first time we’ve been able to improve muscle function as an alternative to treating stress incontinence,” says Dr. Trabuco. “In the past, the only incontinence treatments have been procedures like a sling that establish support underneath the urethra. This would also provide an alternative treatment for women who had a sling but still suffer from slight urinary leakage.”

Fecal incontinence

During child birth, up to 25% of women injure the anal sphincter, a group of muscles that maintains fecal continence when contracted. Despite suture repair of the anal sphincter, some women fail to restore muscle connections and function due to infections or scarring. This results in fecal incontinence symptoms. 

“Studies show up to 88% of women still had defects in the anal sphincter after the suture repair.  It seems that the anal sphincter repair at the time of delivery is not working for a lot of women.  As a result, many patients seek help for fecal incontinence many years after delivery,” says Dr. Trabuco.

Ideally, the optimal time to re-establish function is at the time of delivery. In pilot studies, researchers repaired the anal sphincter with suture while adding PEP to the repair. Similar to their studies on urinary incontinence, researchers showed that sphincter repair with PEP improved muscle healing and strength. These findings gives them hope that new treatment options for fecal incontinence may be on the horizon.

Researchers are seeking to test the purified exosomal products in humans in a phase I clinical trial in humans before then end of 2020.

###

The Center for Regenerative Medicine recognizes Michael S. and Mary Sue Shannon for their generosity and support in advancing regenerative women’s health research.

The post Focus on women’s health: regenerative approaches to stress and fecal incontinence appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Kegel exercises strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which support the uterus, bladder, small intestine and rectum. You can do Kegel exercises, also known as pelvic floor muscle training, just about anytime.

Start by understanding what Kegel exercises can do for you — then follow these instructions for contracting and relaxing your pelvic floor muscles.

Why Kegel exercises matter

Female pelvic floor muscles

Many factors can weaken your pelvic floor muscles, including pregnancy, childbirth, surgery, aging, excessive straining from constipation or chronic coughing, and being overweight.

You might benefit from doing Kegel exercises if you:

• Leak a few drops of urine while sneezing, laughing or coughing (stress incontinence)
• Have a strong, sudden urge to urinate just before losing a large amount of urine (urinary urge incontinence)
• Leak stool (fecal incontinence)

Kegel exercises can also be done during pregnancy or after childbirth to try to improve your symptoms.

The exercises are less helpful for women who have severe urine leakage when they sneeze, cough or laugh. Also, Kegel exercises aren't helpful for women who unexpectedly leak small amounts of urine due to a full bladder (overflow incontinence).

How to do Kegel exercises

To get started:

• Find the right muscles. To identify your pelvic floor muscles, stop urination in midstream. Once you've identified your pelvic floor muscles you can do the exercises in any position, although you might find it easiest to do them lying down at first.
• Perfect your technique. To do Kegels, imagine you are sitting on a marble and tighten your pelvic muscles as if you're lifting the marble. Try it for three seconds at a time, then relax for a count of three.
• Maintain your focus. For best results, focus on tightening only your pelvic floor muscles. Be careful not to flex the muscles in your abdomen, thighs or buttocks. Avoid holding your breath. Instead, breathe freely during the exercises.
• Repeat three times a day. Aim for at least three sets of 10 to 15 repetitions a day.

Don't make a habit of using Kegel exercises to start and stop your urine stream. Doing Kegel exercises while emptying your bladder can actually lead to incomplete emptying of the bladder — which increases the risk of a urinary tract infection.

When to do your Kegels

Make Kegel exercises part of your daily routine. You can do Kegel exercises discreetly just about any time, whether you're sitting at your desk or relaxing on the couch.

When you're having trouble

If you're having trouble doing Kegel exercises, don't be embarrassed to ask for help. Your health care provider can give you important feedback so that you learn to isolate and exercise the correct muscles.

In some cases, vaginal weighted cones or biofeedback might help. To use a vaginal cone, you insert it into your vagina and use pelvic muscle contractions to hold it in place during your daily activities. During a biofeedback session, your doctor or other health care provider inserts a pressure sensor into your vagina or rectum. As you relax and contract your pelvic floor muscles, a monitor will measure and display your pelvic floor activity.

When to expect results

If you do Kegel exercises regularly, you can expect results — such as less frequent urine leakage — within about a few weeks to a few months. For continued benefits, make Kegel exercises a permanent part of your daily routine.

This article is written by Mayo Clinic staff. Find more health and medical information on mayoclinic.org.

The post Women’s Wellness: Are you doing your kegel exercises? appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

For years, Catherine Hebert always carried a pair of underwear in her purse. She often needed them. Affected by stress incontinence, she leaked with even slight exertion. Now, after undergoing an outpatient procedure to treat the incontinence with urinary mesh, Catherine stays dry, and her extra undergarments stay at home.

This summer, Catherine Hebert is taking the trip of a lifetime, walking 270 miles of the Superior Hiking Trail along Lake Superior's North Shore. Everything she needs for the 25-day adventure she'll carry in a backpack. She's planning to bring socks, pants, shorts and T-shirts, as well as sleepwear and sundries. But one item Catherine is happy to be leaving behind is the protective underwear she used to require due to stress incontinence — the unintentional loss of urine due to physical movement or activity.

For Catherine, who is 35, the absence of this item is notable because the pricey panties have been a daily component of her wardrobe for the past five years. A special-needs teacher from Rochester, Minnesota, Catherine developed incontinence after she delivered her second child.

But that changed in March when Catherine's incontinence was remedied during an outpatient surgical procedure at Mayo Clinic where she received a sling to support her urethra and help keep it closed during daily activities. The improvement since the procedure has been dramatic.

"I get to wear 'normal-people' underwear to work every day," Catherine says. "I can drink a liter and half of water, and I don't pee my pants, which is great."

A problem that can be solved

For patients like Catherine, surgical treatment for incontinence can be life-changing, says Emanuel Trabuco, M.D., in Mayo Clinic's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. "People who have stress incontinence leak with physical activities, such as coughing, sneezing or jumping on a trampoline," Dr. Trabuco says. "If it's bothersome enough, there are treatment options."

"For those really bothered by incontinence that affects their quality of life, there are both mesh and non-mesh procedures to treat this condition."

Emanuel Trabuco, M.D.

For decades, Mayo Clinic has provided nonsurgical and surgical treatment for women who have stress incontinence, including polypropylene mesh urinary slings. However, recent media attention on a different product — transvaginal mesh used for pelvic organ prolapse that has been withdrawn from use — has resulted in fewer women seeking consultations for incontinence care, according to Dr. Trabuco.

"There is a lot of confusing information out there that is scaring patients and preventing them from seeking care," Dr. Trabuco says. "For those really bothered by incontinence that affects their quality of life, there are both mesh and non-mesh procedures to treat this condition. Which procedure is right for the patient depends on the risk-benefit discussion that only happens in a consultation."

An uncomfortable inconvenience

Like many new moms, Catherine first experienced occasional incontinence after she gave birth to her first child. Sneezing and coughing sometimes would trigger a leak. But after her second child, Catherine's symptoms steadily grew worse.

"It got to the point where getting in and out of the car, I'd pee a little," Catherine says. "I'd be sitting in a meeting and cross and uncross my legs and pee. It was all the time." Catherine also leaked during sexual intercourse. "It was miserable," she says.

Through the years, Catherine's Mayo Clinic gynecologist recommended a number of exercises and products to manage her incontinence. Catherine performed pelvic floor exercises and tried a device called a urinary pessary, which is designed to fit into the vagina and support the urethra. But the device was hard to place, and the exercises were largely ineffective, Catherine says.

"So I bought pee-proof underwear," she says. "I bought 10 pairs. I always carried a spare with me in my purse. Sometimes I'd be changing them twice a day."

But when Catherine and a friend decided to hike the Superior Trail, she realized staying clean and dry throughout the trip would be problematic. "The underwear would have to be washed thoroughly, and they don't dry well," she says. "I didn't know how to navigate that on the trip. This trip is a big deal for me. I've always wanted to do it. And this was such a stupid reason to struggle with whether I wanted to go or not."

While Catherine had been made aware of surgical options to treat her symptoms years earlier, the complications her condition presented for her trip compelled her to return for another consultation with her health care provider. After a discussion, she decided to move forward with surgery.

A life-altering outcome

During the operation, small incisions were made on either side of Catherine's pubic bone. A 2-centimeter wide piece of mesh was inserted into her pelvis and placed just beneath the urethra. As Catherine healed, the mesh sling was absorbed by her tissues, supporting the urethra and helping to keep it closed.

Although the Food and Drug Administration ordered manufacturers of transvaginal mesh kits for prolapse to stop selling and distributing their products, those items and the slings used to treat urinary incontinence are markedly different, Dr. Trabuco says. Mesh kits used for pelvic organ prolapse are significantly larger, with 4-by-6-inch mesh inserts. They also are placed through the vagina to reinforce the vaginal wall to treat prolapse.

"Dr. Trabuco knew what he was talking about. I trusted that he knew what he was doing."

Catherine Hebert

"They are completely different procedures. The anatomy is different. Where you place the mesh is different," Dr. Trabuco says. "It's an apples-to-pineapples comparison."

Catherine said she had no hesitancy about the surgery. "You need to do minimal research to see these two products are incredibly different and are used for different reasons," Catherine says. "Dr. Trabuco knew what he was talking about. I trusted that he knew what he was doing."

When used appropriately to treat urinary incontinence, mesh slings have between an 80% to 85% success rate at stopping or limiting leaks. Like any operation, receiving a mesh sling to treat incontinence carries some risk. In a small percentage of patients, the mesh can become exposed and protrude into the vagina or it can make emptying the bladder more difficult.

Since the procedure, Catherine's incontinence has all but disappeared. The few times she has leaked were the result of holding too long and were likely avoidable, she says. Now she's able to go on with her life without worrying about how to navigate the inconvenience of incontinence every day. And without that kind of worry, the challenge of 270-mile hike is one Catherine is thrilled to tackle.

Hear more about treatment options for stress incontinence in this video:

HELPFUL LINKS:

• Learn more about surgical treatment of incontinence.
• Check out the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
• Connect with others talking about women's health  on Mayo Clinic Connect.
• Explore Mayo Clinic.
• Request an appointment.

The post Off to New Adventures After Bidding Incontinence Goodbye appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

“Managing urinary conditions can be frustrating and time-consuming, but there are helpful tips and lifestyle changes that can reduce the burden this condition causes,” says Jenna Hoppenworth, a Mayo Clinic Health System nurse practitioner.

Hoppenworth shares these tips:

1. Establish a fluid schedule.
   Attempt to keep your fluid intake on a schedule to help retrain your bladder when to fill and when to empty. Also, limit fluid intake after 6 p.m. to reduce nighttime voiding and incontinence.
2. Stick to a toileting schedule.
   Plan toileting attempts at least every two to three hours during the day. This helps prevent your bladder from becoming too full and causing overflow incontinence.
3. Perform pelvic floor exercises.
   Strengthening the muscles of the pelvic floor can reduce urinary incontinence by as much as 90 percent. Kegel exercises can help.
4. Manage constipation.
   Obstruction of stool is a common cause of incontinence and retention. Maintaining a healthy elimination pattern prevents stool from obstructing the stream of urine.
5. Keep a bladder diary.
   Try to keep a bladder diary for a few days to a few weeks to identify triggers of incontinence and retention. Important components to the diary include time of day, amount of fluid intake, how many times you went to the bathroom, how many times you leaked urine throughout the day, if you felt an urge to urinate before leaking and what type of activity you were engaged in at the time. Remember to bring this with you to appointments with your health care provider.
6. Create a calming environment.
   Managing urinary incontinence can be stressful and emotional at times. Creating a calm environment takes the stress off the situation so that you can focus on emptying your bladder.

“It’s important to have a conversation with your provider regarding prevention of urinary retention and incontinence,” says Hoppenworth. “There are medications that can cause urinary retention as well as many medications that can alleviate the symptoms and causes of urinary retention.”

The post Women’s Wellness: 6 tips for managing urinary incontinence appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

Fecal incontinence is the inability to control bowel movements, causing stool to leak unexpectedly from the rectum. In the worst cases, fecal incontinence can lead to a complete loss of bowel control. It's an uncomfortable and often embarrassing topic, but the crippling fear it instills leaves many people desperately seeking answers.

Adil E. Bharucha, MBBS, M.D., a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist in Rochester, Minn., hears too many stories from his patients, mainly women, about the panic created by fecal incontinence — the condition is not unknown in men but is much more common in women.

Prevalence and causes

In 2001, Dr. Bharucha received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the epidemiology and mechanisms of fecal incontinence. Before his collaboration

with Mayo Clinic epidemiologist L. Joseph Melton III, M.D., and statistician Alan R. Zinsmeister, Ph.D., both of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Dr. Bharucha was unclear about the prevalence of fecal incontinence.

Together, they developed a questionnaire that was sent to 5,300 women in Olmsted County, Minn., with 2,800 responding. The study, whose results were published in Gastroenterology in May 2005, found that 1 in 10 women in the community had fecal incontinence, and that the prevalence increases with age.

A decade ago, fecal incontinence in women was thought to have resulted from injury to the sphincter that occurred as a woman gave birth. Dr. Bharucha observed, however, that most of his patients did not experience symptoms until decades after delivery. He wondered if factors other than trauma during childbirth might be the cause of fecal incontinence.

The Rochester Epidemiology Project — a geographical medical repository in Olmsted County — has maintained a common medical record with its affiliated hospitals and other county health care providers, including Mayo Clinic, for close to a century, making it the ideal tool to look back on decades of obstetrical history and possibly answer the question: To what extent does obstetric trauma cause fecal incontinence in women who develop the problem decades after vaginal delivery?

Dr. Bharucha designed a study to answer that question. At night after regular work hours, he called the women whom the questionnaire identified as having fecal incontinence, encouraging them to participate in the study. His determination paid off, as 88 percent agreed.

"If any study was going to solve the question, this was it," Dr. Bharucha says. "We invited 200 women with fecal incontinence, plus 200 age-matched women without it, in to see us."

Observations from the survey and decades of obstetrical records from the Rochester Epidemiology Project, combined with the rigorous study, showed that rectal urgency and diarrhea, rather than obstetric trauma, are the main risk factors for fecal incontinence among women. The work was published in the American Journal of Gastroenterology in 2006.

The discovery that bowel disturbances are a significant risk factor for fecal incontinence highlighted the importance of managing the disturbances through noninvasive treatments. Dr. Bharucha subsequently developed and validated a fecal incontinence assessment scale that is increasingly used by physicians and researchers, as reported in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology in 2006.

Dr. Bharucha also knew that he needed better diagnostic tools to identify and assess anorectal function if he hoped to help women with fecal incontinence. With that goal, he set about building an extensive network of collaborators both within Mayo Clinic and externally.

MRI: Visualizing pelvic floor motion in real time

Thunderstruck, Dr. Bharucha's eyes widened as he read an ultrasound report stating that the image could not distinguish whether the anal sphincter was completely normal or completely torn. Already frustrated with the limitation of tests to assess anorectal function, Dr. Bharucha wondered if there might be a better way to assess the function. He went running with the report to his radiology colleagues.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) now acquires images fast enough to visualize blood flow in the aorta and the renal vessels. Dr. Bharucha asked his colleagues if this diagnostic test could be adapted to observe pelvic floor motion in real time, an observation crucial to determining anorectal function.

The pelvic floor, sometimes called a pelvic diaphragm, is made up of several muscles that span the area under the pelvis and support the rectum like a hammock. The body uses these muscles in the maintenance of anorectal function. When these muscles aren't performing properly, fecal incontinence can occur.

Armed with an NIH grant to investigate anorectal dysfunction in women, Dr. Bharucha approached radiologist Joel G. Fletcher, M.D., of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, about developing a better test for dynamic pelvic floor imaging. With crucial participation of Mayo Clinic biomathematician Armando Manduca, Ph.D., who developed the first dedicated software program to analyze pelvic floor motion, they were successful in developing a type of MRI known as magnetic resonance proctography (MRP), and results were published in 2003 in the American Journal of Gastroenterology. MRP is now a standard clinical test at Mayo Clinic.

MRE: Testing sphincter elasticity

Although magnetic resonance proctography works well as a diagnostic test for many patients, it is limited in its ability to detect any physical deformity in some sphincters with weak pressure. Weak pressure in the anorectal muscles can lead to fecal incontinence. In these cases, magnetic resistance elastography (MRE) shows more promise.

Magnetic resistance elastography is an application of MRI that searches out stiff tissue, which can occur in scars and tumors. The stiff tissue can be a contributing factor to weak pressure in the sphincter.

Dr. Bharucha likens an MRE scan to dropping a pebble in a pond. A probe, like the pebble, sends subtle vibrations through the sphincter, producing mechanical waves. The rate at which they spread reveals its elasticity. The less elastic the sphincter muscles are, the more likely is the occurrence of fecal incontinence.

Along with Drs. Fletcher and Manduca, the Mayo Clinic MRE team includes radiology researcher Joel P. Felmlee, Ph.D., and technicians Phillip J. Rossman, Roger C. Grimm and Scott A. Kruse. This is Dr. Bharucha's dream team for finding better ways to apply MRE technology to the difficult task of diagnosing the cause of fecal incontinence.

"The ideas bounce back and forth so fast that I often have to ask them to please stop and explain what they just said," Dr. Bharucha says with a laugh. "We have been working doggedly to overcome the unique challenges of doing MRE of the sphincter — it is inaccessible, has a very thin structure, and the waves that form are distorted rather than propagating in one direction."

Although the team has successfully produced images that reveal the function of the sphincter and the location if there has been an injury, MRE imaging of the sphincter isn't ready yet for regular clinical use.

Other innovations follow

Because much is known about the mechanical properties of the lung, Dr. Bharucha connected with Mayo Clinic pulmonary specialist Rolf D. Hubmayr, M.D., who suggested experimenting with sinusoidal waveforms to measure stiffness in anorectal muscles, as has been done in airway muscles in rodents. Studies were successful in adapting the technique to measure the rate of distention in the colon and rectum, as reported in 2001 in the American Journal of Physiology - Gastroenterology and Liver.

"When the rectum is rapidly distended it responds by contracting, causing urgency," Dr. Bharucha says. "However, while urgency normally subsides when defecation is inconvenient, if the rectum is abnormally stiff it may not respond in time to prevent leakage."

After his collaboration with Dr. Hubmayr, Dr. Bharucha approached Randolph W. Stroetz, R.R.T., a respiratory care technician at Mayo Clinic Hospital — Rochester, for help developing the first portable anorectal manometer to measure pressures in the rectum and anal canal. The portable anorectal manometer became one more diagnostic tool for Dr. Bharucha to use when assessing the causes for fecal incontinence.

In 2012, the Food and Drug Administration approved the portable anorectal manometer, for which Dr. Bharucha and Stroetz share a pending patent. This inexpensive, simple device is accessible to general practitioners. It is licensed to Medspira, a company in which Mayo Clinic has shares.

Nerve damage also can cause weakness in anorectal muscles. To improve the test for anal sphincter nerve injury, Dr. Bharucha recruited Mayo Clinic neurologists Charles (Michel) Harper Jr., M.D., Jasper R. Daube, M.D., and William J. Litchy, M.D., to explore anal electromyography (EMG). They developed a more accurate test, reported in a 2005 issue of the journal Gut, and identified anal sphincter nerve injury in 50 to 60 percent of women with fecal incontinence, a much higher percentage than previously thought.

Adding it all up

Close interaction between Dr. Bharucha and his Mayo Clinic colleagues Michael Camilleri, M.D., Gianrico Farrugia, M.D., and Joseph H. Szurszewski, Ph.D., all gastroenterology researchers, has earned international acclaim for Mayo Clinic's Gastrointestinal Motility Clinic. The clinic is the first center nationwide to introduce high-resolution anorectal manometry into clinical practice and to develop normal values and a system with which to classify patients with defecatory disorders, including fecal incontinence, as reported in the American Journal of Gastroenterology and Gastroenterology.

The Gastrointestinal Motility Clinic now offers a panel of tests to assess rectal stiffness, sphincter strength and urgency. This comprehensive approach provides an array of sophisticated diagnostic tools to help researchers zero in on the cause of fecal incontinence in each patient.

"Most of my collaborators had never considered working in my field," Dr. Bharucha says. "I am very grateful for their enthusiasm and expertise once they understood how common and distressing these disorders are. People say that the beauty of collaborating is that you work with smarter people. In my case, it's really true."

The post Reducing the panic of fecal incontinence appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

It's estimated that over 20 million men and women in the United States have some form of incontinence, and on Saturday, May 10, urologist Dan Elliott, M.D., will join us to discuss this sensitive topic. It's a great concern for many people and sometimes uncomfortable to talk about. When you should see a doctor?  Are there medications to treat incontinence?  When can outpatient surgery help?  We hope you'll join us!

Myth or Matter of Fact:  It's normal to leak a little urine.

To hear the program LIVE on Saturday, click here.
Follow #MayoClinicRadio and tweet your questions.
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Listen to this week’s Medical News Headlines:  News Segment May 10, 2014 (right click MP3)  

Mayo Clinic Radio is a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic. The show is taped for rebroadcast by some affiliates.

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Myth or Matter of Fact:  It's normal to leak a little urine.

Did you miss the show? Here is the podcast: Mayo Clinic Radio Full Show 5-10-14

50 years ago - in 1964 (when a postage stamp was just 5 cents!!) the U.S. Postal Service actually issued a stamp in honor of the Mayo brothers. The centennial seal used in1964 is the first depiction of practice (patient care), education and research, which are visually represented in the 1970s as the three-shield logo of Mayo Clinic.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx5PCRprcBk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx5PCRprcBk

Follow #MayoClinicRadio and tweet your questions.

Mayo Clinic Radio is available on iHeart Radio.

Mayo Clinic Radio is a weekly one-hour radio program highlighting health and medical information from Mayo Clinic. The show is taped for rebroadcast by some affiliates.

The post Mayo Clinic Radio: Incontinence appeared first on Mayo Clinic News Network.

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Incontinence after Prostate Surgery

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