Human cord blood stem cell therapy for treatment of stress urinary incontinence

Our objective in this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of transurethral cord blood stem cell injection for treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women. Between July 2005 and July 2006, 39 women underwent transurethral umbilical cord blood stem cell injection performed by one operator at a single hospital. All patients had stress urinary incontinence. The patients were evaluated 1, 3, and 12 months postoperatively. No postoperative complications were observed. 28 patients (77.8%) were more than 50% satisfied according to the Patient's Satisfaction results after 1 month, 29 patients (83%) were more than 50% satisfied according to the Patient's Satisfaction results after 3 months, and 26 (72.2%) continuously showed more than 50% improvement after 12 months. Intrinsic sphincter deficiency and mixed stress incontinency improved in the ten patients evaluated by urodynamic study. Our results suggest that transurethral umbilical cord blood stem cell injection is an effective treatment for women with all types of stress urinary incontinence.