MEDICAL NEWS
A New Use for Botox:
Treating Women’s Urinary Incontinence By Erica Stacy
It’s uncomfortable and frustrating. It can happen at any time, in any place. When it does, it can be downright embarrassing.
Urge urinary incontinence affects more than 25 million adults in the United States, according to the National Association For Continence. It is a problem for nearly twice as many women as men, and most suffer in silence, assuming it’s a normal part of aging and that little can be done. But a new treatment involving Botox for women has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration and is now available. Carilion Clinic recently introduced the procedure on an outpatient basis and is the only provider in the region to offer it. The two Carilion urogynecologists skilled in performing the procedure have also been national leaders in introducing it. W. Jerod Greer, M.D., took part in a landmark clinical trial for the treatment, whose results were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. FDA approval followed the clinical trial, which showed Botox therapy to be more than twice as effective as the traditional oral treatments, with fewer side effects. Dr. Greer joined Carilion in 2013 after a three-year fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has five 10 SUMMER 2014 | CarilionClinic.org
years of experience using Botox for urge urinary incontinence. Jonathan L. Gleason, M.D., came to Carilion two years ago from the University of Alabama at Birmingham following a three-year fellowship. He has three years of experience with the Botox procedure.
Urogynecologist: A urogynecologist is a surgeon who specializes in the care of women with pelvic floor disorders and who is skilled in diagnosing and treating urinary incontinence.
A COMMON PROBLEM
“Urge urinary incontinence affects 20 percent of older women in the United States,” says Dr. Gleason. “It has historically been treated mainly with oral medications that have a very high discontinuation rate due to bothersome side effects and limited effectiveness. “It’s a hard topic for a lot of women to talk about,” he says. “They believe it’s just one of those problems they have to live with as they get older.” Both physicians stress that urinary incontinence is not just a part of normal aging. They recommend that if urinary