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Connecticut Surgery Center

Sacral Neuromodulation

Sacral neuromodulation (SNM) is a minimally invasive procedure that uses electrical stimulation to help the brain communicate with the bladder and bowel, and treat lower urinary tract and bowel dysfunctions: urinary incontinence, urinary retention, overactive bladder, and anal incontinence.

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Brown, Steven, MD Czyrko, Christina, MD Mirth, Maria, MD

Knowing What to Expect

Preparing for surgery can feel overwhelming or scary if you don’t know what to expect. You may have some unanswered questions and worries that make you feel this way. Knowing what to expect will help you feel less nervous and more in control.

Prevalence

Fecal incontinence or accidental bowel leakage affects 1 in 12 people worldwide but is more common in women.

Urinary leakage can be seen as high as 30 to 50 percent. This is seen in higher percentages in older individuals.

Treatment Options

There are many ways to manage bowel control problems. Remember, if conservative treatments don’t deliver the results you need, you have more options.

Lifestyle Changes

Conservative treatments can help some people but may not work very well (or at all) for others. All of these are relatively simple behavioral changes that you may already be doing.

  • Dietary modification: changes may include adjusting fiber intake or eliminating troublesome foods.
  • Bowel retraining: also called biofeedback or pelvic floor physiotherapy, this aims to improve bowel sensation, coordination, and strength.
  • Medication: anti-diarrheal medications may provide some relief.

Oral Medications

When lifestyle changes fail to deliver the relief results you want, oral medications are the next step. These medications can help control symptoms but may cause other issues.

These medications need to be taken daily. Some side effects can be unpleasant, such as dizziness, drowsiness, tiredness or constipation. Other side effects are more serious. Even more important, these medications don’t always work. In one survey, 72% of people said they stopped taking their medication after just six months.

Advanced Therapies

If conservative measures do not deliver the results, there are other options available to you.

Sacral Nerve Stimulation is a time tested, FDA approved and insurance accepted mode of therapy.

It begins with an initial test (Trial Stimulation) to see if you have improvement of your symptoms, for either urinary or bowel lack of control.

There is no commitment, just a test trial. This can be done either in the doctor’s office or with a slightly more advanced technique in an ambulatory surgery center using fluoroscopy and mild sedation.

We assist in the evaluation of the trial and if there is improvement of your symptoms, you will be offered a longer term resolution to what is otherwise a most challenging and awkward symptom, incontinence.

Our center is well established in providing this therapeutic option. We have a skilled team of physicians, nurses and radiology technicians. These are performed in an ambulatory care center, allowing you to comfortably return home that same day.