Explore This Program

    What to Expect

    Mass General is consistently ranked among the best hospitals for women’s health care. In the Department of Urology, our team includes physicians who specialize in female urology. As a patient of our program, you will receive care from a dedicated urologist who specializes in diagnosing and treating lower urinary tract disorders and other urological problems in women.

    Our primary goals for treatment are to help relieve or eliminate the symptoms related to your condition and help you return to everyday activities with confidence.

    At your first visit, one of our specialists will conduct a comprehensive evaluation. Please bring your medical records and any test results (if applicable), including X-rays, to your first appointment.

    During the evaluation, you can expect the following:

    • A review of your medical history, test results and notes from your referring physician
    • An in-depth conversation about your symptoms and normal function before the condition appeared
    • A discussion of your lifestyle and expectations for treatment and outcomes

    For your convenience, additional testing (if necessary) is performed onsite. Tests may include X-rays, blood tests, urine cultures and/or urodynamics, an advanced method for collecting physiological data from patients whose conditions have proven difficult to diagnose. These tests are minimally invasive and performed on an outpatient basis.

    Personalized & Comprehensive Care

    After evaluating you and examining your test results, your urologist will design a personalized treatment plan to eliminate or alleviate your symptoms. Your physician always begins treatment with a therapy he or she feels will be effective and safe while causing the least disruption to your normal activities.

    By attempting to begin with more conservative, nonsurgical approaches, you may be able to avoid invasive procedures. In every case, our physicians rely on the depth and breadth of their experience to select safe therapies targeted to produce your desired outcome.

    Recent innovations have helped more patients to achieve positive outcomes with medication, biofeedback, nerve stimulation and/or support devices. Still, some patients may require surgery to correct their problems. If you are a candidate for surgery, you can expect world-class, compassionate care from one of the most accomplished surgical teams in the United States.

    About the Program

    In the past, gynecologists and primary care physicians referred female patients with urological disorders to general urologists, who typically treat both women and men. Several of our physicians, however, are urologists who have dedicated their careers to studying and practicing the specialty of female urology.

    We treat the full range of lower urinary tract symptoms and other urological disorders, including:

    • Urinary incontinence (urge incontinence, stress incontinence, mixed-type incontinence)
    • Voiding dysfunctions (e.g. urinary frequency and urgency, incomplete bladder emptying)
    • Pelvic prolapse (when pelvic organs put pressure on the bladder, urethra or other parts of the pelvis)
    • Injuries to organs and tissues of the urinary tract
    • Abnormalities of the urinary tract (e.g. urinary sphincter defects)

    Specialization Matters

    Why should patients seek treatment from specialists in female urology, such as our program's physicians?

    First, rapid innovation means improved medications, procedures and medical devices are constantly being approved for clinical use. Our specialists are experts in prescribing and administering these advanced therapies—and often collaborate with leading researchers to develop them.

    Equally important is our physicians' extensive clinical experience in treating female patients with urological problems, which can be challenging to diagnose due to the wide array of symptoms and underlying causes. Through years of clinical practice, groundbreaking research and specialized training, our urologists have achieved national acclaim for their diagnostic and treatment capabilities.

    Leading the Way with Innovative Therapies

    Our compassionate physicians practice female urology because they pride themselves in helping patients return to everyday activities with confidence. They treat patients using today's safest, most effective and least invasive therapies, including:

    • Oral medications for incontinence and voiding dysfunctions, which continue to increase in effectiveness while producing fewer side effects
    • Highly successful, safe, office-based injection therapies for urge and stress incontinence, using well-known agents such as collagen and botulinum toxin (i.e. Botox)
    • Noninvasive and minimally invasive nerve-stimulation therapies, including Interstim neuromodulation, for medically refractory urge incontinence, uncontrollable urgency/frequency syndrome and idiopathic urinary retention
    • Novel slings, pessaries and other medical devices that support organs and treat incontinence affected by pelvic prolapse (usually fitted with little or no pain on an outpatient basis)