BACKGROUND:To test the suitability of a new surgical procedure for treatment of female urinary incontinence to be used as an ambulatory and minimal invasive operation.METHODS:Thirty-one consecutive patients with urodynamically proven stress incontinence had a tensionfree vaginal tape procedure performed. Operation time, the amount of anesthetics and analgetics used, postoperative mobilization, voiding patterns, residual urine volumes, per- and postoperative complications, hospital stay and need for sick leave were prospectively recorded.RESULTS:All 31 patients were cured from stress incontinence. Local anesthesia was used in all cases and additional analgetics were needed in only small doses. Seventy per cent of the patients were released from the hospital on the same day of the operation. By medical criteria 90% could have been released on the same day. No significant per- or postoperative complications occurred. Three patients needed postoperative catheterization. All but one patient was able to empty her bladder within 24 hours from the operation. An average of 15 days sick leave was prescribed.CONCLUSION:The tensionfree vaginal tape procedure seems to fulfil the criteria for being regarded as a minimal invasive surgical procedure for treatment of female urinary stress incontinence. It is highly effective and is associated with very few intra and postoperative side effects.
OBJECTIVE:To elucidate aspects of the actual practice of surgical management of urinary incontinence in Norway and Finland.METHOD:A questionnaire about preoperative diagnostic procedures, type of surgery, follow-up procedure and number of operations per center and per surgeon per year (1995) was sent to all departments of Gynecology and Obstetrics in Norway and Finland.RESULT:Thirty-one (86%) of the Norwegian and 26 (90%) of the Finnish departments returned the questionnaire. More than 90% of the departments performed preoperative urodynamic evaluation. Burch colposuspension was used by more than 90% of the departments in the two countries. Generally the number of procedures per center and per department was low. Twenty-nine and 12% of the departments respectively did not perform any follow-up after surgery. Only 16% of the Norwegian and 23% of the Finnish centers had controlled results of surgery.CONCLUSION:There seems to be a need for criteria of good clinical practice or a reference program for all steps of surgical management of stress incontinence in order to stimulate the process of quality development of this treatment.
OBJECTIVE:To review the available information on laparoscopic colposuspension.METHOD AND MATERIAL:One randomized controlled trial, four non-randomized comparative studies and ten open observational clinical series were reviewed.RESULTS:The available information was generally poor characterized by the small size of series, considerable variation in surgical techniques, short follow-up and mainly subjective assessment of outcome.CONCLUSIONS:Laparoscopic colposuspension has been shown to be technically feasible but the therapeutic usability of the procedure remains to be documented. There is an urgent need for some large, rigorous prospective randomized studies
Transurethral endoscopic treatment of urinary stress incontinence inwomen. Materials and results in former and present agents.
BACKGROUND:Favorable results have been reported following Maximal Electrical Stimulation (MES) of patients with urgency and urge incontinence. However, patient groups have often been mixed and outcome measures poorly defined. We therefore wanted to treat a homogeneous patient population with MES and evaluate the effect by defined subjective and objective outcome measures.METHODS:Eighteen female patients complaining of urge incontinence had MES performed. Before and 3 months after MES, the patients performed a 24 hour micturition chart and pad test. They indicated on a visual analogue scale their subjective degree of urgency and leakage and had an ambulatory urodynamic monitoring performed. Nine months after MES the patients were asked whether their urge incontinence was less, equal or more troublesome than before MES.RESULTS:After MES the patients indicated significantly less urgency and leakage. A significant difference was not found in any of the objective outcome measures after MES. Six out of 18 patients (33%) found their urge incontinence less troublesome 9 months after MES, while 12 (66%) found it unchanged or more troublesome than before.CONCLUSIONS:Significantly subjective effect was found following MES. However, none of the objective outcome measures were significantly improved. We were disappointed by the results and have stopped using the method.
BACKGROUND To describe the principal methods of needle bladder neck suspension including complications and to evaluate their cure rates. METHODS The methods are described according to the original papers of Pereyra, Stamey and Raz. Figures of complications and cure rates are based on recent reviews and prospective studies. RESULTS The complication rates do not exceed those of other surgical procedures for stress incontinence. The frequencies of pain and suture removal, voiding disorder, and de novo detrusor instability are each in the range of 5-6%. Objectively assessed cure rates of the endoscopic needle bladder neck suspension are 87% after one year and for the non-endoscopic methods 70%. However, prospective studies have shown that this cure rates may deteriorate to approximately 40% after five years compared to 82% after the Burch colposupension. CONCLUSION The needle procedures should be reserved to patients who can only tolerate a minor surgical procedure and accept the risk of failure after a few years.
OBJECTIVE:The purpose was to study any long-term therapeutic effects of maximal electrical stimulation in female urge incontinence.METHODS:A postal questionnaire containing six questions about urinary incontinence was distributed to 30 women who had been treated with maximal stimulation because of unstable detrusor and urge incontinence 9-13 years earlier. The response rate was 90% (27 women). The mean age at follow-up was 62 years.RESULTS:Twenty-one (78%) women reported symptoms of urge incontinence. Among them, 13 had this problem daily, whereas eight only had problems weekly or even more seldom. Nineteen (70%) women reported symptoms of stress incontinence. Twenty-one women would have recommended maximal stimulation to a friend today.CONCLUSION:After approximately ten years most of the women had symptoms of urge incontinence. This was, however, a minor problem among a third of them. A majority of the women were satisfied with maximal stimulation as a treatment modality. The treatment had not prevented a later occurrence of stress incontinence.
Background. The aim of the present study was to review the literature on randomized controlled trials of electrical stimulation to treat urge and stress urinary incontinence.Methods. Studies were compiled from Medline from 1980 till 1996 and manual searches of relevant journals. Randomized controlled studies full length published in English, German and Scandinavian languages were included.Results. Nine studies evaluating the effect of electrical stimulation on stress urinary incontinence and one study evaluating the effect of urge incontinence were found. Only three studies had a sufficient sample size to enable conclusion on stress urinary incontinence. Two demonstrated negative, and one positive effect (20% cure and 46% improved measured by pad test). The study on urge incontinence demonstrated that there was no difference in effect after electrical stimulation or anticholinergic drugs.Conclusion. The results of randomized controlled trials evaluating the effect of electrical stimulation to treat stress and urge urinary incontinence are conflicting. There is a need for more randomized controlled trials with sufficient sample sizes, use of sensitive, reproducible and valid outcome measures, and optimal stimulation parameters. Based on the present knowledge pelvic floor muscle exercise should be the first choice of treatment for stress urinary incontinence.
Functional electrical stimulation has many theoretical advantages. In clinical practice, very favorable results have been repeatedly presented. The experience now encompasses thirty years and a very large number of incontinent patients. Although the methods are widely used, they are differently appreciated. Problems include the fact that functional electrical stimulation does not belong to the therapeutic traditions in urology and gynecology, there is a need of personal training for successful treatment and there is a lack of systematic studies on different clinical applications. Significant advantages are a rational physiological basis, applicability in a variety of lower urinary tract dysfunctions, few side effects and a potential curative effect.
Background. To determine if maternal serum levels of human placental lactogen (hPL), estradiol, and pregnancy-specific beta(1)-glycoprotein (SP1) measured at approximately 18 weeks' gestation were associated with fetal growth retardation (FGR) in infants delivered at or after 37 weeks.Method's. Serum samples were obtained at a mean of 18 weeks' gestational age from 200 multiparous women with risk factors for FGR. Maternal serum concentrations of hPL, estradiol and SP1 were correlated with FGR.Results. A total of 59 (29.5%) of the 200 infants were diagnosed postnatally with FGR. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of FGR among the lowest quartiles of estradiol, hPL or SP1. However, pregnancies in the highest quartile of estradiol levels at 18 weeks' (>580 pg/ml) were associated with a significantly lower risk of FGR than those in the lower three quartiles, 8 out of 50 (16%) vs 51 of 150 (34%) (p = <0.05). The prevalence of FGR associated with the highest quartile of hPL (>1.73 mu g/ml) was 12.2% compared to 35% in the lower three quartiles (p = 0.025) and the prevalence of FGR associated with the highest quartile of SP1 (>43 ng/ml) was 14% compared to 34.7% in the lower three quartiles (p = 0.018). Only one out of 21 infants (4.5%) whose mothers had each value in the highest quartile of hPL, estradiol, and SP1 was diagnosed with FGR compared to 58 out of 178 (32.6%) of the remaining infants (p = 0.007).Conclusions. In pregnancies of women at high risk for FGR, higher levels of estradiol, hPL, and SP1 at 18 weeks are associated with a decreased prevalence of FGR. This finding indicates that high levels of these hormones are related to a lower risk of FGR, but that low levels do not predict FGR.
The reliability of a diagnostic test depends on the accuracy and reproducibility of the test results. The accuracy is defined by comparing the test results with a final true diagnosis. The predictive values are here the most important clinical measures. Since it may be impossible to establish a final true diagnosis the reliability must in some cases be measured by a determination of reproducibility. The reproducibility is measured by comparing results of repeated examinations of the same patient. The reproducibility is measured by the use of the kappa coefficient which adjusts the observed agreement for expected chance agreement. A study of reliability of a diagnostic test should fulfill the same methodological requirements as other clinical studies. Both the predictive values and the kappa coefficient are supposed to depend on the prevalence and this should be noticed when results of different studies are compared. Reliability of diagnostic tests is often poor and scientific development of how to improve clinicians' diagnostic practice is much needed.
Between 1993 and 1994, 368 women underwent hysterectomy for benign disorders at the University of Kiel. Of these operations, 58.7% were performed either by pelviscopic or by laparotomic Classic Intrafascial Supracervical Hysterectomy, subtotal hysterectomy with coring of the inner cervix. Of the remainder, 14.8% were performed by total abdominal hysterectomy, 13.6% by Intrafascial Vaginal Hysterectomy, 12.2% by vaginal hysterectomy, and only 0.05% by Laparoscopic Assisted Vaginal Hysterectomy. Comparative data of these six surgical techniques concerning patients' characteristics, indications for operation, histological features, blood loss, operating time, hospital stay, uterine weights and postoperatively used analgesics are described.
BACKGROUND AND METHOD:Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infants represent a heterogeneous group of normal and growth-retarded children. To assess the familial aggregation of reduced fetal growth, birth weights in both maternal and paternal relatives of 1246 index children in the Scandinavian SGA Study were compared across groups defined by the SGA outcome of the index child as well as that of earlier siblings.RESULTS:Mean maternal birth weight +/- SEM was 3127 +/- 54 g for mothers who had experienced two SGA births as opposed to 3424 +/- 22 for mothers with no SGA births. Mean paternal birth weight was 3497 +/- 88 g and 3665 +/- 24 in the same two groups. The odds ratio (with 95% confidence interval) for having a mother with birth weight below the 10th percentile was 1.74 (0.85-3.58) for the group where two SGA births had occurred compared to no SGA births and it was 2.49 (1.22-5.07) for having a father with birth weight below the 10th percentile. There was no correlation between maternal and paternal birth weights.CONCLUSIONS:The association also to paternal birth weight suggests the presence of genetic or common environmental factors in explaining the tendency to have SGA children. Although taking parental birth weights into consideration will aid in diagnosing growth-retardation in a SGA child, SGA remains a heterogeneous group where familial and non-familial cases will be difficult to separate.
It is proposed that opening and closure of the proximal urethra and bladder neck are regulated by a battery of surrounding structures, the most important being the pubourethral-vesical ligaments, the suburethral vaginal wall, 'the hammock', the pubococcygeus muscles, the levator plate and the connective tissue which like glue connects these structures to each other. Inappropriate function in one of these structures can, to some extent, be compensated for by an improved function in another hereby maintaining continence. However, a significantly deteriorated function in the support of urethra--normally maintained by the pubourethral/pubovesical ligaments, the pubococcygeus muscles and suburethral vaginal wall--will result in pronounced stress incontinence. Severe defects in these structures can generally not be compensated for by exercises of the pelvic muscles. This is true, in particular, if there is also a defect function in the connective tissue which 'glues' the urogenital structures to each other. Under such circumstances surgical procedures have to be considered to alleviate the patients symptoms. What is said so far must not exclude the importance of recognizing the role of the internal urethral structures to maintain continence, in particular the quality of urethral muscles, connective tissue and vascularization. In some specific cases of mixed incontinence it can be speculated whether the urge symptom can be caused by an anatomical dysfunction causing the proximal urethra and the bladder neck to remain involuntarily open or to open promptly at even minor pressure provocations. If so distension of the bladder neck and proximal urethra may activate stretch receptors located here which will induce uninhibited detrusor contractions. The presence of estrogen receptors in many of the structures involved in preserving continence may explain the increased prevalence of dysfunctions in the urogenital tract in postmenopausal patients, in particular in those not on hormone replacement therapy.
BACKGROUND:The purpose was to compare growth patterns and psychomotor development of healthy small-for-gestational-age (SGA) and non-SGA infants, and identify factors predictive of outcome at 13 months of age.METHOD:A total of 265 SGA infants and 329 non-SGA controls were identified from a multicenter cohort of 5722 para 1 and 2 women who had been followed during pregnancy. The infants were examined at 2 days and at 13 months of age. Psychomotor development at 13 months was assessed with The Bayley Scale of Infant Development.RESULTS:The SGA infants showed partial catch-up growth, but had still lower (mean +/- SEM, p < 0.0001) weight (9750 +/- 65 vs 10505 +/- 67 g), crown-heel length (75.9 +/- 0.2 vs 77.5 +/- 0.2 cm) and head circumference (46.9 +/- 0.1 vs 47.7 +/- 0.1 cm) than the non-SGA infants at 13 months. The SGA children scored equally well on the motor (PDI 106.8 +/- 1.0 vs 107.2 +/- 0.8) but lower on the mental scale (MDI 112.1 +/- 0.8 vs 116.5 +/- 0.7, p < 0.0001) of the Bayley Scale, and the asymmetric SGA scored lower than the symmetric SGA infants (MDI 110.2 +/- 1.3 vs 113.3 +/- 0.9, p = 0.05). In a multivariate regression analysis the parents' growth parameters had the greatest effect on growth measures at 13 months while education and maternal smoking had no significant effect. SGA vs non-SGA status had the greatest effect on growth velocities during infancy. For mental development only SGA vs non-SGA status and the mothers' education made significant contributions, but only accounted for 6% of the variance.CONCLUSION:The negative impact of intrauterine factors on growth are partly abolished by catch-up growth during infancy, and growth parameters at one year of age are mostly determined by genetic factors even in SGA infants. Decreased intrauterine growth may possibly have a negative effect on brain growth and mental developmental potential.
BACKGROUND:Imaging techniques of bladder support can be of diagnostic value to differ causes of urinary incontinence like misbuilding of the lower urinary tract, hypermobility of the bladderneck and urethral wall pathology, which is valuable prior to surgery for incontinence.METHOD:Literature about imaging techniques, especially, voiding cystourethrography, ultrasonography and MRI were studied and their diagnostic value evaluated.CONCLUSION:Dynamic ultrasonography is the first line imaging method for studying bladder support. Bladderneck hypermobility, as a sign of defect in the adjunctive closure forces is better correlated to stress incontinence than bladder morfology, diagnosed during static cystography. Voiding cystography has its place in diagnosing misbuildings of the lower urinary tract. MRI is just at the beginning of its clinical era, and seems relevant for studies of urethral pathology.
