“..as more individuals with LUTS of neurogenic and organic aetiology are reaching adulthood, there is a need to address the interface of continence care.
Dubbed the ICS’s smallest committee and possibly renegade in its gender breakdown, the Children’s Committee of the ICS is alive and very well. Since 2007 we have been devising a road map to meet the needs of the ICS members for input about paediatric continence disorders. From a membership survey in 2008 we identified key areas that have become the target of our efforts. For many years the committee has presented courses and workshops around the disorders of enuresis and daytime incontinence in young children. Given that the ICS membership provides clinical services across the ages, many delegates of the annual meeting were not routinely encountering children. The market for education about dysfunction of bladder and bowel in childhood became saturated. However, the majority of members were encountering adults and young adults with LUTS of childhood origin. Additionally, as more individuals with LUTS of neurogenic and organic aetiology are reaching adulthood, there is a need to address the interface of continence care.
Focus on adolescent/young adult phase
Accordingly, the Children’s Committee re-directed its focus to the adolescent / young adult phase. We have been preparing reference documents to clarify the optimal assessment and management of young adults with and without neurogenic causes of their LUTS. Cognoscente of the fact that encounters with adolescents can be eroded by individual responses to life changes and the quest for independence, we have also suggested guidelines for clinicians dealing with young adults. To date we have a set of three manuscripts, the first of which has already been published in the society’s journal.
Over the last 2 years we have presented pre-conference courses about the optimal work-up of adolescent LUTS. Since it is now accepted that adequate treatment of pediatric LUTS, especially dysfunctional voiding, may help to prevent adult LUTS, we continue to contribute childhood material to courses covering symptoms over the lifespan.
Interaction between ICS and ICCS
Members of the Society will be aware of the formation in 1997 of the International Children’s Continence Society which initially aimed to target the science and best practice relating to nocturnal enuresis in children. Over the years, that society has grown to include activities that relate to all symptoms of the lower urinary tract and bowel encountered in childhood. There has always been a cross-over of expertise between the ICS and the ICCS. In recent years, both Societies have recognized the need for enhanced communication to prevent duplication of efforts. Accordingly, the Children’s Committee has been liaising with the ICCS, and has recently been offered an ex-officio position to contribute specifically in the area of adolescent LUT dysfunction. In turn, we as a Committee acknowledge the role of the ICCS in safe-guarding best practice by targeting clinicians who routinely managed disorders of the LUT in children. In the near future 10 Societies will join together to present a World Congress of Pediatric Urology. As much of the material to be presented will be new yet essential knowledge for the ICS members caring for children and adolescents, we have proposed a summary presentation of World Congress highlights at our Toronto annual scientific meeting. This session will be presented by the Chairman of the World Congress of Pediatric Urology, Prof Stuart Bauer, who is also President of the ICCS.
Finally I would like to acknowledge the hard-working members of our ICS Children’s Committee, who have taken up the challenges presented by our change of focus and have contributed enthusiastically to all initiatives over the last 3 years. My thanks and gratitude to each of you.
Wendy Bower, Chairwoman of the Children's Committee