Post-Prostatectomy Urinary Incontinence: A Confluence of 3 Factors
Received 23 March 2009 published online 18 January 2010.
Purpose
Urinary incontinence has a significant impact on the quality of life of patients who undergo radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer. We reviewed available published data to analyze the etiology and prevention of this surgical complication.
Materials and Methods
A MEDLINE® search of the literature on this topic was performed.
Results
There was a wide disparity in the reported rates of urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy due to various reasons including definitions, patient selection and intraoperative technical factors.
Conclusions
Postoperative urinary incontinence has a major impact on patient satisfaction after radical prostatectomy. Attention to factors including patient selection, nuances of the surgical technique, and a more uniform, widespread agreement on the definition and instruments to measure postoperative incontinence is needed to enhance surgical outcomes. In addition, further research is needed to improve the diagnosis and treatment of urinary incontinence after prostate cancer surgery.
Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
Editor's Note: This article is the second of 5 published in this issue for which category 1 CME credits can be earned. Instructions for obtaining credits are given with the questions on pages 1262 and 1263.
⁎ Financial interest and/or other relationship with Predictive Biosciences, Tengion and Certus Medical.
ABSTRACT