The effect of injectable platelet rich fibrin as a nonsurgical treatment of the female stress urinary incontinence

The complications of surgical treatments of stress urinary incontinence have led to the search for less invasive and safer treatment procedures. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of locally administered injectable platelet-rich fibrin (i-PRF), an autologous material that plays an important role in tissue regeneration, in women with stress urinary incontinence.

Thirty-four women were included in this prospective, single-center, and interventional study, suffering from stress urinary incontinence refractory to conservative treatment. Three consecutive i-PRF injections were applied to the mid-urethra localization at anterior vaginal wall with an interval of 1 month. ICIQ-SF, UDI-6, IIQ-7 and POPDI-6 questionnaires were used to measure pre‑treatment, 1 month and 6 months post‑treatment symptom severity and the clinical outcomes were recorded.

The mean age of the patients was 51.5 ± 9.8 years. ICIQ-SF, UDI-6, IIQ-7 and POPDI-6 questionnaires results revealed significant clinical improvement of stress urinary incontinence severity afer the administration of i-PRF (p < 0.001). The results at 1 and 6 months after treatment did not change statistically significantly.

This study demonstrated that locally administiration of i-PRF is efective in relieving SUI symptoms with high success rates without any adverse effects reported. i-PRF injection may have the potential to be a novel, minimally invasive, and low-risk procedure, that could be an alternative and simple treatment modality to surgery for female patients with stress urinary incontinence. Additionally, it may create new avenues for research on therapeutic implementation of i-PRF.