[Stress urinary incontinence: an overview on actual surgical trends]

Minerva Ginecol. 2003 Feb;55(1):25-36.
[Article in Italian]

Abstract

Stress urinary female incontinence (IUS) is an unpleasant symptom describing a loss of urine during physical exertion; genuine stress incontinence (GSI) is a socially unacceptable, involuntary loss of urine in absence of detrusor activity from the urethra associated with sudden cough or strain. The incidence of IUS is less than 10% in reproductive-age women but may approach 10-20% in postmenopausal women. The IUS pathophysiology is connected with two specific mechanisms: the urethral-bladder sliding out of anatomical area involves the normal system of endobladder/intraabdominal pressures, with a loss of urine; the second mechanism involves the damaged urethral sphincteric function, with a reduction of the urethral closure pressure and a urinary loss after minimal physical stimulation. The IUS medical therapy is troublesome and often inefficient, and the only approved effective measures are the surgical procedures, actually reserved for cases of unsuccessful medical therapy; surgical treatments can be classified according to the access as: vaginal, abdominal, associated and complex. They intend to reposition the urethral-bladder sliding in its normal intra-abdominal position, to allow equal transmission of increased intraabdominal pressure to the bladder and the proximal urethra. In the scientific literature there are more than one hundred surgical procedures for IUS correction, but the IUS surgical approach is anyway the actual gold standard therapy.

Publication types

  • English Abstract
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Estrogen Replacement Therapy
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Incidence
  • Middle Aged
  • Pessaries
  • Physical Therapy Modalities
  • Postmenopause
  • Prostheses and Implants
  • Urethra / surgery
  • Urinary Bladder / surgery
  • Urinary Bladder Diseases / surgery
  • Urinary Incontinence, Stress / diagnosis
  • Urinary Incontinence, Stress / epidemiology
  • Urinary Incontinence, Stress / etiology
  • Urinary Incontinence, Stress / physiopathology
  • Urinary Incontinence, Stress / surgery*
  • Urinary Incontinence, Stress / therapy
  • Urinary Sphincter, Artificial
  • Urologic Surgical Procedures* / trends