UI Health Care offers new treatment for urgency urinary incontinence
Implantable eCoin nerve stimulation device provides symptom improvement, convenience for patients with overactive bladder
Urologists with University of Iowa Health Care now offer a new treatment for urgency urinary incontinence, or the sudden urge to urinate followed by uncontrolled leaking of urine.
The eCoin Peripheral Neurostimulator—a device that generates electrical pulses to stimulate the nerves related to bladder control—is implanted under the skin at the ankle and allows for nerve stimulation at home.
Effective, time-saving solution for urgency incontinence
eCoin tibial nerve stimulation is based on urologists' knowledge of the nerves that affect the bladder. For decades, urologists have offered a form of tibial nerve stimulation that needed to be performed weekly in the office for 12 consecutive weeks. While this therapy is effective, it can be difficult and inconvenient for some patients to travel to the doctor's office on such a regular basis.
For patients, the eCoin neurostimulation system provides significant symptom improvement and fewer trips to the clinic, according to Annah Vollstedt, MD, clinical assistant professor in the UI Department of Urology.
"In previous clinical studies of eCoin, upward of 75% of patients saw marked improvement in their urgency incontinence episodes, and 90% reported they were satisfied with the device and their symptom improvement." Vollstedt says. "Plus, as an implantable device, it eliminates multiple treatment visits to the urology clinic. For patients, it's a win-win solution: It's convenient, and it works."
How eCoin treats an overactive bladder
The eCoin system, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March 2022 for the treatment of urgency urinary incontinence, is based on tibial nerve stimulation. The tibial nerve is involved in movement and feeling in the legs and feet, and it also influences the nerves that control the bladder.
The eCoin system allows for tibial nerve stimulation at home. The device automatically stimulates every three days without the need for the patient to turn anything on or off.
When should eCoin be used?
Treatment of urgency urinary incontinence is challenging. Medications and behavior changes can help, but symptoms can be an ongoing issue for some patients, particularly older adults.
Vollstedt recommends eCoin to qualified patients for whom lifestyle modifications—decreasing caffeine intake and losing weight, for example—and medications to treat an overactive bladder have not worked consistently or effectively.
"For patients who meet the criteria for this treatment, it's a viable option for what can be a frustrating and sometimes embarrassing urological condition," she says.
UI Health Care to lead post-approval study of eCoin
Vollstedt notes that UI Health Care was selected by Valencia Technologies, the company that developed eCoin, as its post-FDA approval study site to track the longer-term, real-world effectiveness of the system for treating urgency incontinence.
Patients who qualify for the study may receive the treatment at no cost.
