Bulking agent applicator for treating female urinary incontinence

An apparatus comprising a needle guide configured to receive a lance configured to inject a bulking agent at one or more selected submucosal positions in a periurethral tissue of a female patient's urethra, the lance having a longitudinal axis, the needle guide comprising:

• a needle entrance surface and an opposite shoulder surface;
• a bore extending between the needle entrance surface and the opposite shoulder surface, the bore configured to receive the lance;
• and
• an array of needle channels separate from the bore and extending between the needle entrance surface and the opposite shoulder surface, wherein the needle channels of the array are separated from each other by radial angles with respect to a circumference around a longitudinal axis of the lance.

A method for treating female urinary incontinence by injecting bulking material at selected periurethal positions using an applicator with a lance and a needle guide with a bore receiving the lance, and an array of needle channels around the bore arranged at different angular positions with respect to a circumference around a longitudinal axis of the lance, the method comprising:

• inserting the lance into a urethra until needle guide abuts the urethra meatus,
• inserting a needle of an injector through a first one of the needle channels and moving a tip of the needle through external tissue around the urethra meatus to a first selected periurethral position;
• injecting the bulking agent at the first periurethral position via the needle while the needle is in said first needle channel;
• maintaining the needle guide at the same position, while removing the needle from the first needle channel of the array of needle channels and inserting the needle into a second one of the array of needle channels and moving a tip of the needle through external tissue around the urethral meatus to a second selected periurethral position;
• and
• injecting the bulking agent at the second periurethral position via the needle while the needle is in said second needle channel.