Lack of preoperative predictors of the immediate return of postoperative bladder emptying after uterosacral ligament suspension

Voiding trial outcome following pelvic floor repair without incontinence procedures

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS

Our aim was to identify predictors of postoperative voiding trial failure among patients who had a pelvic floor repair without a concurrent incontinence procedure in order to identify low-risk patients in whom postoperative voiding trials may be modified.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of women who underwent pelvic floor repair without concurrent incontinence procedures at two institutions from 1 November 2011 through 13 October 2013 after abstracting demographic and clinical data from medical records. The primary outcome was postoperative retrograde voiding trial failure. We used modified Poisson regression to calculate the risk ratio (RR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI).

RESULTS

Of the 371 women who met eligibility criteria, 294 (79.2 %) had complete data on the variables of interest. Forty nine (16.7 %) failed the trial, and those women were less likely to be white (p = 0.04), more likely to have had an anterior colporrhaphy (p = 0.001), and more likely to have had a preoperative postvoid residual (PVR) ≥150 ml (p = 0.001). After adjusting for race, women were more likely to fail their voiding trial if they had a preoperative PVR of ≥150 ml (RR: 1.9; 95 % CI: 1.1-3.2); institution also was associated with voiding trial failure (RR: 3.0; 95 % CI: 1.6-5.4).

CONCLUSIONS

Among our cohort, postoperative voiding trial failure was associated with a PVR of ≥150 ml and institution at which the surgery was performed.

Urethral sensation following reconstructive pelvic surgery

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS

Most urethral neuromuscular function data focus on efferent rather than afferent innervation. We aimed to determine if changes exist in urethral afferent nerve function before and after reconstructive pelvic surgery (RPS). Secondarily, we compared afferent urethral innervation in women with and without stress urinary incontinence undergoing RPS.

METHODS

Participants underwent current perception threshold (CPT) and urethral anal reflex (UAR) testing prior to surgery and again post-operatively. Wilcoxon signed ranked test and Spearman's correlations were used and all tests were two-sided. p = 0.05 was considered to indicate statistical significance.

RESULTS

Urethral CPT thresholds increased significantly after RPS, consistent with decreased urethral afferent function. Pre-operative urethral CPT thresholds at 5 and 250 Hz were lower in SUI women (10 [IQR 5-29], 40 [32-750]) compared with continent women (63 [14-99], 73 [51-109]; p = 0.45, p = 0.020), signifying increased urethral sensation or easier activation of urethral afferents in SUI women.

CONCLUSIONS

Reconstructive pelvic surgery is associated with a short-term deleterious impact on urethral afferent function, as demonstrated by the higher levels of stimuli required to activate urethral afferent nerves (decreased urethral sensation) immediately after RPS. Women with SUI required lower levels of stimuli to activate urethral afferent nerves prior to RPS, although UAR latencies were similar regardless of concomitant SUI.