• Prostate surgical procedures. Either prostatectomy for prostate cancer or transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) for BPH can cause detrusor instability. As with stress incontinence, prostatectomy poses a much higher rate than with TURP, which is very low.
• Hysterectomy. Complications of this operation, which removes the uterus, are associated with up to double the risk for eventually needing surgery for incontinence.

Click the icon to see an image about hysterectomy.

• Radiation to the pelvis that involves the bladder.
• Damage to the central nervous system. Certain neurologic disorders or injuries can disrupt the passage of nerve messages between the urinary tract and central nervous system. These neurological conditions include stroke, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord or disk injury, and Parkinson's disease.
• Infections.
• The aging process.
• Emotional disorders. Anxiety is associated with urge incontinence.
• Medications, including some sleeping pills.
• Genetic factors may play a role in some cases.

• < Page
1 2
• >

Review Date: 07/26/2010
Reviewed By: Harvey Simon, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)