The Effects of Suburethral Tape on the Symptoms of Overactive Bladder

Effects of the transobturator tape procedure on overactive bladder symptoms and quality of life: a prospective study

Introduction:

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of transobturator tape (TOT) on overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms and quality of life.

Materials and Methods:

Patients with stress-predominant mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) who had undergone TOT procedures were considered candidates for this research. Preoperative assessment included anamnesis, pelvic examination, cough stress test (CST), and validated symptom severity and quality of life (QoL) questionnaires. The primary outcome, improvement and cure rates of OAB symptoms were determined based on the patient's baseline scores in symptom-related questions in OAB-V8. Secondary outcomes included the success rates of SUI, changes in the QoL score and patient satisfaction rates.

Results:

A total of 104 patients were included in the study. Sixty-two patients underwent TOT placement alone, and 42 patients underwent TOT placement along with prolapse surgery. The mean follow-up period of the patients was 30.47 months range: 13-52 months. At the first-year follow-up, 52 patients (50.0%) and 59 patients (56.7%) reported cure in preoperative urgency and urgency incontinence, respectively. The objective and subjective cure rates were 96.2% and 56.7%, respectively. A total of 80.7% of the cases had a 15-point improvement in QoL scores.

Conclusions:

MUS is not only a gold standard treatment in SUI but also presents as a promising treatment modality in stress-dominant MUI. Although the improvement rates of OAB symptoms significantly decrease over time, QoL and patient satisfaction rates remain higher than any other treatment in this patient group at the third-year follow-up.

Do urodynamic findings influence the approach to mid-urethral sling surgery for stress urinary incontinence?

Recent press coverage on vaginal mesh surgery has resulted in a change in how patients are counselled, managed and treated in the UK. For stress urinary incontinence surgical procedures such as insertion of tension-free vaginal tape are commonplace and generally performed as a day-case procedure. Effective and successful management of female urinary incontinence is difficult, even when using diagnostic testing where all conservative managements have failed, and this indicates a need to investigate further. Specialist texts in the fields of urology and urogynaecology argue that urodynamics can help inform the success of surgical intervention for stress urinary incontinence. The aim of this review was to look for evidence of practice where urodynamic findings are used to determine the successful outcome of mid-urethral sling surgery in females. A literature search to identify research on this topic was performed with appraisal of qualifying literature. The qualifying research included attitudes towards urodynamic studies among urogynaecologists and urologists, demonstration that urodynamics has been proven to influence changes in diagnosis and surgical approaches, and the capacity for urodynamics to predict successful outcomes in mid-urethral sling surgery. Analysis of the literature found no evidence to suggest that urodynamic findings can be used to determine successful outcomes following mid-urethral sling surgery.

Prevalence of Domestic Violence in Hong Kong Chinese Women Presenting with Urinary Symptoms

OBJECTIVES

To determine the prevalence of domestic violence and its risk factors in women presenting with urinary symptoms.

METHODS

The study was carried out in the urogynecology clinic and general gynecology clinic, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong from 1st May 2013 till 31st October 2014. Two hundred and twenty-five women presenting to the urogynecology clinic with urinary symptoms were categorized according to their symptoms and were asked to complete the Modified Abuse Assessment Screen. Demographic data of the subjects and their partners were collected. Mann-Whitney U test were used for analysis of continuous variables, while Chi-square test and Fisher Exact test were used for analysis of categorical variables between the abused and non-abused group. Prevalence of domestic violence were calculated and compared.

RESULTS

The prevalence of domestic violence among this group of patients (7.6%) was found to be lower when compared with other studies. Verbal abuse was the commonest form of violence in our locality. The median age of the abused group and the non-abused group were both 56 years old, with the age ranging from 40 to 64 and 29 to 70 years old respectively. The prevalence of domestic violence among patients with overactive bladder syndrome, stress urinary incontinence and mixed urinary incontinence were 19.5%, 4.2% and 5.5% respectively (Fisher Exact test for whole group, P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

The prevalence and nature of abuse in our locality was different from the quoted figures worldwide. Patients with overactive bladder syndrome were more likely to be victims of abuse than patients with other urinary symptoms. The difference in the prevalence of domestic violence among patients with different urinary symptoms could be related to their underlying pathophysiology. When encountering patients with overactive bladder syndrome, clinicians should consider this high incidence of domestic violence and provide prompt referral whenever necessary.

Psychosomatic Aspects of Urinary Incontinence in Women

Urinary incontinence in women is a common problem. With increasing age its prevalence and severity of its manifestations increase. Among nursing home residents the frequency is between 43 and 77 %, 6 to 10 % of all admissions to nursing homes are due to urinary incontinence. The risk for urinary incontinence among women with cognitive deficits is 1.5- to 3.4-fold higher than for women without mental disorders. The most common form is stress incontinence (50 %), followed by mixed stress-urge incontinence (40 %) and purely urge incontinence (OAB = overactive bladder, 20 %). With regard to its cause, the latter remains unclarified in about 80 % of the cases. It is often difficult to treat. There are also cases in which urge incontinence is related to traumatic events. In such cases behavioural and psychotherapeutic options may be helpful. Almost inevitably every form of incontinence has psychological consequences: shame and insecurity are often results of uncontrolled loss of urine. Among others, in the long term, they lead to the avoidance of social contacts and possibly to depression and isolation. Consideration of the psychosomatics is important in the therapy for female urinary incontinence from three points of view: 1) the efficacy of treatment is better suited to the patient, 2) the treatment costs are lower, 3) the professional satisfaction of the responsible physician increases.