Videourodynamic diagnosis of occult genuine stress incontinence in patients with anterior vaginal wall relaxation

Urinary incontinence in women

Urinary incontinence symptoms are highly prevalent among women, have a substantial effect on health-related quality of life and are associated with considerable personal and societal expenditure. Two main types are described: stress urinary incontinence, in which urine leaks in association with physical exertion, and urgency urinary incontinence, in which urine leaks in association with a sudden compelling desire to void. Women who experience both symptoms are considered as having mixed urinary incontinence. Research has revealed overlapping potential causes of incontinence, including dysfunction of the detrusor muscle or muscles of the pelvic floor, dysfunction of the neural controls of storage and voiding, and perturbation of the local environment within the bladder. A full diagnostic evaluation of urinary incontinence requires a medical history, physical examination, urinalysis, assessment of quality of life and, when initial treatments fail, invasive urodynamics. Interventions can include non-surgical options (such as lifestyle modifications, pelvic floor muscle training and drugs) and surgical options to support the urethra or increase bladder capacity. Future directions in research may increasingly target primary prevention through understanding of environmental and genetic risks for incontinence.

5-year experience in the diagnosis and treatment of occult urinary incontinence in women with pelvic organ prolapse

OBJECTIVE

Our aim was to analyze our five-year experience in the diagnosis and treatment of occult urinary incontinence in women with pelvic organ prolapse.

STUDY DESIGN

The medical records of all patients who were admitted to the Division of Urogynecology of Istanbul Faculty of Medicine between January 2008 and December 2013; in total, 1600 patients were retrospectively evaluated. The study population included 287 patients who had prolapse beyond the hymen and underwent two consecutive urodynamic studies with and without prolapse reduction. Demographic data, medical records, physical examination, full urogynecologic examination, urodynamic investigations, treatment modality, the results of the treatment and King's Health Questionnaire scores before treatment and at one-year follow-up were recorded.

RESULTS

Eighty-five of 287 patients (29.6%) were continent, 20 (23.5%) of whom had occult stress urinary incontinence during cystometry. Among these 20 patients, 17 underwent anti-incontinence surgery; 12 were satisfied with their surgery and had no postoperative urinary leakage. Twenty (23.5%) patients had overactive bladder symptoms during urodynamic studies after prolapse reduction. King's Health Questionnaire scores before and after the operation, showed that health status of 12 patients was better, 1 patient was unsatisfied after the treatment, 2 patients' scores did not change and 2 patients were lost to follow up.

CONCLUSIONS

In conclusion, the prevalence of occult urinary incontinence was 23.5% when using urodynamics with prolapse reduction. 12 of the 17 patients diagnosed with occult urinary incontinence were satisfied with surgery and had no postoperative urinary leakage.

Accuracy of methods for urinary detection in women with stress urinary incontinence

Purpose

We assessed the accuracy of urinary detection by visualization compared with a method using the urethral channel of a transurethral, three-channel urodynamic catheter.

Materials and Methods

This was a case series of 52 patients presenting with stress urinary incontinence over 2 years. Patients underwent video-urodynamic studies in both the supine and the erect positions by use of two techniques for measuring leak point pressure (LPP) by one examiner. LPP was determined as the intravesical pressure simultaneous to the starting point of urethral pressure changes through the urethral channel of a urodynamic catheter (LPP-ure) and then by visualization (LPP-vis) during different events. We also measured the time related to the provocations and the time to mark the leakage on the urodynamic machine by the examiner.

Results

The LPP-ure values (cough supine: 42.1±18.7, cough erect: 42.1±21.8, Valsalva supine: 42.2±23.3, Valsalva erect: 41.0±22.6 cmH₂O) were significantly lower than the LPP-vis values (89.9±29.4, 97.4±30.4, 70.6±25.2, and 74.4±32.6 cmH₂O, respectively, all p<0.001). Whereas the actual leakages happened during the pressure increases, urodynamic recording by visualization was done after those increases had finished.

Conclusions

The use of visualization as a urinary detection method entails potential errors that cannot be adjusted for on that time scale. Our results emphasize the need to standardize the methodologies used for urinary leakage detection, because this measurement is closely related to the accuracy of measurement of leak point pressure.

Urethral hypermobility after anti-incontinence surgery - a prognostic indicator?

The aim of this study was to define the concept of hypermobility of the bladder neck and determine its effects on the cure rate and postoperative complications in patients undergoing colposuspension. In a retrospective study, 310 patients who underwent primary colposuspension for urodynamically proven genuine stress urinary incontinence were assessed by introital ultrasound before surgery and during follow-up for up to 48 months postoperatively. A total of 152 women completed 48 months of follow-up. Mobility of the bladder neck during straining was described as linear dorsocaudal movement (LDM) with LDM >15 mm being defined as hypermobility. The overall objective cure rate was 90.0% at 6-month follow-up vs 76.8% at 48-month follow-up (Kaplan-Meier estimators). Urge symptoms occurred in 12.6% (39/310) of the women and de novo urge incontinence in 2.3% (7/310). Bladder neck hypermobility was significantly reduced after anti-incontinence surgery, from 67.1% (208/310) before surgery to 5.5% (17/310) immediately after surgery (P<0.0001). Postoperative hypermobility was associated with a higher recurrence rate. In the hypermobility group, 52.9 and 34.0% of the patients were continent for up to 6 and 48 months, respectively, as opposed to 92.2 and 79.2% in the group without hypermobility (P<0.0001). Women with postoperative hypermobility had a 3.2-fold higher risk of recurrence within 48 months. Bladder neck hypermobility after surgery was also associated with postoperative voiding difficulty (P=0.0278). Patients in whom hypermobility of the bladder neck diagnosed before surgery persists after colposuspension have a higher risk of recurrence and are more likely to develop postoperative complications than those without this hypermobility.

A critical review of diagnostic criteria for evaluating patients with symptomatic stress urinary incontinence

The first paper in this section is a review by several highly respected authors of diagnostic criteria for evaluating patients with symptomatic stress urinary incontinence, and is followed by a review of the role of urgency and its measurement in the overactive bladder symptom syndrome, with emphasis on current concepts and future prospects. These are two important papers, which point the reader in the direction of a greater understanding of these conditions. The concept of alpha-blockade before a trial without catheter after acute urinary retention is revisited by authors from the UK, who used tamsulosin in a randomized controlled trial. They found that it is appropriate to recommend tamsulosin for such use in this condition.

Pelvic symptoms in women with pelvic organ prolapse

OBJECTIVE

To assess symptoms of bladder, bowel, and sexual function in women with pelvic organ prolapse and to compare symptoms by different degrees of prolapse.

METHODS

This retrospective study used data from 352 women with prolapse or urinary incontinence. The pelvic organ prolapse quantification measurements, as well as responses to 3 self-administered questionnaires assessing urinary, bowel, and sexual function were used. For each individual, pelvic organ prolapse quantification measures of prolapse were obtained in centimeters in relation to the hymen for 3 compartments: anterior vagina, vaginal apex or cervix, and posterior vagina. Data were analyzed by comparing the frequency of symptoms to centimeter measures of the most advanced prolapse (regardless of site) and the other compartments of prolapse.

RESULTS

Of the 330 patients available for analysis, 2.4% had stage I, 46.1% had stage II, 48.2% had stage III, and 3.3% had stage IV prolapse. The average age was 58.8 years (+/- 12.1), with a median parity of 3. Forty-eight percent were postmenopausal and taking estrogen, 27% were postmenopausal and not taking estrogen, and 25% were premenopausal. Patients who had stress incontinence symptoms had less advanced prolapse (median 5 cm less prolapse in the apical compartment) than patients without stress incontinence. Women who required manual assistance to urinate had more advanced prolapse (median 3.5 cm more prolapse in the most advanced compartment) than those who did not. Patients with urinary urgency and urge incontinence also had less advanced prolapse, although the differences were smaller than for stress incontinence (median 3 cm difference or less). There were no clinically significant differences in any compartment for symptoms related to sexual or bowel function.

CONCLUSION

Women with more advanced prolapse were less likely to have stress incontinence and more likely to manually reduce prolapse to void; however, prolapse severity was not associated with sexual or bowel symptoms.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

II-2.

Combined genital prolapse repair reinforced with a polypropylene mesh and tension-free vaginal tape in women with genital prolapse and stress urinary incontinence: a retrospective case-control study with short-term follow-up

BACKGROUND

To evaluate the tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) in both stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and occult SUI as an associated procedure at the time of tension-free polypropylene mesh repair for the treatment of genitourinary prolapse.

METHODS

Forty-eight consecutive women undergoing surgery for genital prolapse and concurrent SUI from November 1999 to September 2002. Preoperatively, SUI was symptomatic in 29 women and occult in 19, with a positive stress test during repositioning of the prolapse. All patients had urethral hypermobility and none had intrinsic sphincter deficiency. The cystocele repair was performed in all patients according to the technique of tension-free polypropylene mesh. Twenty-six women had an associated TVT and 22 had no associated procedure for SUI (control group). The main outcome measures were postoperative SUI, voiding dysfunction, and recurrence of prolapse.

RESULTS

The median follow-up was 20 +/- 10.1 months (range 7-41). Patient characteristics and preoperative urodynamic evaluation were similar in the two groups. In patients with preoperative SUI, postoperative SUI occurred in 1/15 of the TVT group (6.7%) vs. 5/14 (35.7%) in the control group (p < 0.05), and voiding dysfunction occurred in 2/15 patients of the TVT group (13.3%) vs. 0/14 in the control group (p > 0.05). In patients with preoperative occult SUI, postoperative SUI occurred in 0/11 of the TVT group vs. 1/8 (12.5%) in the control group (p > 0.05), and voiding dysfunction occurred in 3/11 patients of the TVT group (27.3%) vs. 0/8 in the control group (p < 0.05). Anatomic success on prolapse was 88.5% (23/26) and 86.4% (19/22) in the TVT and the control group, respectively (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

In patients with preoperative SUI, TVT is more efficient than prosthetic cystocele repair alone to prevent postoperative SUI, without differences in voiding dysfunction. In patients with preoperative occult SUI, prosthetic cystocele repair is as efficient as TVT, with a decreased risk of voiding dysfunction.

Incontinence and voiding difficulties associated with prolapse

PURPOSE

Prolapse is the protrusion of a pelvic organ beyond its normal anatomical confines. It represents the failure of fibromuscular supports.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A MEDLINE search was done using the keywords cystocele, uterine prolapse, vault prolapse, enterocele or rectocele in combination with urinary incontinence. We reviewed 97 articles. From this material the definition, classification, incidence, symptoms and evaluation are described.

RESULTS

Prolapse and urinary incontinence often occur concomitantly and cystocele, rectocele, enterocele, uterine descent or vaginal vault prolapse may also be present. The pathophysiology of prolapse encompasses direct and indirect injury, metabolic abnormalities and chronic high intra-abdominal pressure. Anterior vaginal wall prolapse may present as stress incontinence. A large cystocele may cause urethral kinking and overflow incontinence. Uterine descent can cause lower back and sacral pain. Enterocele may cause only vague symptoms of vaginal discomfort. A rectocele can lead to incomplete evacuation of stool. A thorough history and physical examination are the most important means of assessment. A voiding diary helps determine functional bladder capacity. Uroflow examination determines the average and maximum flow rates, and the shape of the curve can help identify Valsalva augmented voiding. Multichannel urodynamics or video-urodynamics with prolapse reduced can be important. The advantages of dynamic magnetic resonance imaging include excellent depiction of the soft tissues and pelvic organs, and their fluid content during various degrees of pelvic strain. To our knowledge whether it is cost-effective in this manner has not been determined.

CONCLUSIONS

Correction of prolapse must aim to restore vaginal function and any concomitant urinary incontinence.

Combined genitourinary prolapse repair and prophylactic tension-free vaginal tape in women with severe prolapse and occult stress urinary incontinence: preliminary results

OBJECTIVES

Continent patients with a positive stress test demonstrated on repositioning of severe genitourinary prolapse are considered to be at high risk of developing postoperative symptomatic stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Our aim was to evaluate in a prospective study whether a prophylactic, tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure, performed during prolapse repair, may prevent the development of postoperative SUI in these women.

METHODS

Thirty consecutive, clinically continent women (mean age 64.5 +/- 9.04 years) with severe genitourinary prolapse and occult SUI were prospectively enrolled. Occult SUI was defined as a positive stress test with repositioning of the prolapse during the preoperative urodynamic studies. All patients had urethral hypermobility; none had intrinsic sphincter deficiency. In addition to genitourinary prolapse repair, these patients underwent concomitant TVT to prevent postoperative SUI. Patients were followed up for at least 1 year. Repeated urodynamic studies were performed at 3 to 6 months postoperatively. The main outcome measures were postoperative SUI, persistent or de novo detrusor instability, and recurrence of prolapse.

RESULTS

The mean duration of follow-up was 14.25 +/- 3.08 months (range 12 to 24). None of the patients developed postoperative symptomatic SUI. However, three asymptomatic patients (10%) had a positive stress test during their postoperative urodynamic evaluation. Nine patients (30%) had detrusor instability before surgery, which persisted in six (66%) postoperatively. Postoperative de novo detrusor instability was diagnosed in four other patients (13.33%). None of the patients had recurrent urogenital prolapse, nor did they have clinical evidence of bladder outlet obstruction.

CONCLUSIONS

The preliminary results of TVT as a prophylactic procedure in clinically continent women with severe prolapse and occult SUI are encouraging. Long-term follow-up is required to confirm the durability of these results.