title: Stem Cell Therapy for Male Urinary Incontinence.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Among the medical and surgical options which have been proposed in the last years for the management of male stress urinary incontinence (SUI), stem cell therapy represents a new frontier treatment. The aim of this paper is to update the current status of stem cell therapy in animal and human studies for the management of iatrogenic male SUI.
  
  
  METHODS
  A PubMed review of the literature on stem cell therapy for the treatment of male SUI was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Regarding animal studies, bone marrow-, muscle- and adipose-derived stem cells have been widely studied, showing regeneration of the urethral sphincter and recovery of the damaged pelvic nerves. With regard to human studies, only four papers are available in the literature using muscle- and adipose-derived stem cells which reported a significant improvement in sphincteric function and incontinence with no severe side effects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In spite of these promising results, further studies are needed with longer follow-ups and larger numbers of patients in order to clarify the potential role of stem cell therapy for the treatment of male SUI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Urology, San Paolo Hospital, Savona, Italy.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giberti
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schenone
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cortese
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ninotta
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000066673:Cell Self Renewal; D006801:Humans; D007049:Iatrogenic Disease; D008297:Male; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012038:Regeneration; D012307:Risk Factors; D033581:Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014521:Urethra / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*