Urinary incontinence is a major health burden. For many patients stress urinary incontinence is associated with progressive degeneration of the muscular tissue. During this process muscle cells die. Novel cell-based therapy for regeneration and improvement of the sphincter muscle can tackle the etiology of incontinence rather than the consequences. Unfortunately, different laboratories use different cell-based sphincter approaches. This COST Action, Regenerative Sphincter Therapy (ReST), will endorse a strong interdisciplinary collaboration in academic, clinical, and medical technology. The major aim of this COST Action is to assemble an International Board of Experts in order to harmonize cell-based patient therapy methods that would lead to a global multi-centre study for approval by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). COST will allow us to interact with other networks across various disciplines to promote pan-European teaching and investigation. COST will contribute not only to the quality of life of patients affected, but in the long run will serve to control high costs caused by incontinence by providing knowledge on efficacy and information on effective methods of application of the various regenerative sphincter therapies.
urinary incontinence - stress urinary incontinence - cell-based therapy - coordination of multi-centre studies
