Urethral atrophy after implantation of an artificial urinary sphincter: fact or fiction?

Abstract

These results, and other theoretical considerations, suggest that recurrent incontinence, years after initially successful implantation of an AUS, is because of material failure of the PRB, probably attributable to its age and consequent loss of its ability to generate the pressure it was designed to produce, and that urethral atrophy does not occur. Simply replacing the old device with a new one with the same characteristics, unless there is a particular reason to do otherwise, is usually successful and avoids the complications of alternatives such as as cuff downsizing, implanting a PRB with a higher pressure range, implantation of a second cuff or transcorporeal cuff placement, all of which have been advocated in these patients.