Dear Colleagues,

The 4th International Consultation on Incontinence (ICI) will be held in Paris July 5-8, 2008. The organizers of this workshop have summoned the world´s leading experts in urology, gynecology and urodynamics to present and discuss the most recent advances in the field, including epidemiology, basic science, and treatment. However, the purpose is not only to review the current state of knowledge on incontinence, but also to propose strategies for the practical diagnostic and therapeutic management of the disorders following the evidence based medicine principles. Additionally the purpose is to propose validated standard international instruments to evaluate incontinence, and to help standardize response criteria and recommendations for clinical research on incontinence.

This broad scope of the workshop is reflected in the abstracts of the posters that will be presented at the meeting and which this first issue of Urotoday International Journal (UIJ) is proud to publish with exclusivity. The abstracts comprise not only different aspects of the overactive bladder such as treatment, epidemiology, basic science, but also summarize recent advances in the areas of stress incontinence, pelvic floor disorders and prolapse. Methods, technical and diagnostic aspects of incontinence, as well as of treatment, are also covered.

The aim of UIJ is to elevate the access to relevant urology science to professionals around the world and to make this scientific information available to a wide audience. We believe that there is a good chance that this aim will be fulfilled for these abstracts, since UIJ currently reaches over 60,000 professionals in urological diseases.

It is our hope that all professionals in the fields of incontinence research and management, both experienced and newcomers, will benefit from these abstracts, and become inspired towards further efforts.

Kind regards,
Karl-Erik Andersson, MD, PhD

Editor-In-Chief