Dr. Rahel Nardos

The goal of this research is to assess whether mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) will help improve urgency urinary incontinence (UI) and associated anxiety symptoms, and if this effect is associated with a change in specific brain regions including those previously identified by this group to be altered in women with urgency urinary incontinence. The project has three specific aims:

• To determine the impact of MBSR training on UI symptoms, quality of life, and anxiety measures in women affected with UI. The researchers hypothesize that participants will have significant improvement in UI and anxiety related symptoms and quality of life measures.
• To use advanced brain imaging techniques, namely functional MRI (fMRI) and resting state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI), to determine whether change in UI and anxiety symptoms after MBSR is associated with change in activation pattern of control regions in the brain, as well as their functional integration with the rest of the brain. The researchers hypothesize that symptomatic improvement in participants will correlate with change in brain activation and functional integrity.
• To utilize diffusion tensor Imaging (DTI) to assess white matter integrity and fiber tracking. This imaging modality has the potential to identify subtle microstructural abnormalities that underlie disease processes such urgency incontinence. The researchers will evaluate the relationship between structural connectivity of fiber tracts obtained from DTI data with functional connectivity data using rs-fcMRI. This technique, in combination with functional MRI, allows a more comprehensive assessment of atypical connectivity observed in urgency incontinence in general.