Newer and novel artificial urinary sphincters (AUS): the development of alternatives to the current AUS device.

INTRODUCTION: The current artificial urinary sphincter (AUS), AMS 800 (American Medical Systems, Minnesota, MN, USA) is considered the standard of care for the treatment of urinary incontinence (UI). While the long-term effectiveness, safety, and durability of the current model of the AMS 800 are well documented, it is not without its limitations and complications. Over the last few years, improvements in design and innovative research into AUS devices have increased the treatment arsenal in male UI.

METHODS: Articles from peer-reviewed journals, abstracts from scientific meetings and electronic literature searches formed the basis of this review.

RESULTS: Newer AUS models, e.g. FlowSecure, Zephyr, Pro-ACT and other novel experimental AUS devices, are designed to simulate a healthy human sphincter and address the limitation of the existing AMS 800 device.

CONCLUSIONS: Newer and novel AUS models are innovative and showed promising outcomes in short- to intermediate-term follow-up. However, there exists the need for prospective randomised clinical trials and complete reporting of adverse and long-term results before these AUS models can replace the existing AMS 800 device.