Center for Women's Care and
Reproductive Surgery

URINARY STRESS INCONTINENCE

Urinary stress incontinence usually occurs with some form of physical activity, lifting, sneezing, laughing, jogging, bending or stooping. It has been identified in one study by the University of Pittsburgh and the National Institute on Aging as the most common form of urinary incontinence.

The study, which surveyed a total of 541 women with an average age of 47 years, found that almost 60 percent had experienced incontinence at some time; of these, approximately half (47.9 percent) were diagnosed with stress incontinence. Other studies estimate that USI represents up to 70 percent of all incontinence cases in ambulatory women.

Most patients recommended for surgical therapy are wearing incontinence pads due to the severity of their condition, or are candidates for gynecologic surgery for other conditions, such as fibroid tumors. In those cases, the gynecologic surgeon may recommend that the patient undergo both procedures during the same operation.

Most patients undergoing endoscopic surgery for USI are out of the hospital and back to work or normal activities within 24 hours--as compared with between five and seven hospital days, and four to six weeks out of work required with conventional surgery. Other advantages of the endoscope surgical approach include: fewer hospital charges; less blood loss; and reduced postoperative pain.

Endoscopic surgery affords comparable or superior cure rates for USI, compared to conventional surgery. Cure rates greater than 80 percent with conventional surgical therapy have been reported, according to published studies.

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