Aims
Post‐prostatectomy stress urinary incontinence (PPI) is a common condition with significant impact on patient quality of life. With rising numbers of prostatectomies performed, recognition of incontinence during survivorship care is growing. With increasing hesitance of the use of suburethral mesh in females, urethral bulking injections in this patient population as a minimally invasive alternative to surgery are evaluated.
This review aims to evaluate the existing evidence base for urethral bulking therapy in PPI and provide a summary of its efficacy, durability, and side‐effect profile.
Methods
A literature search of Medline/Pubmed and Cochrane databases was conducted to identify publications reporting the clinical outcomes of urethral bulking injections in patients with PPI, up to and including October 1st, 2018. Case reports, letters and reviews were excluded.
Results
We identified 25 studies that fit our inclusion criteria, comprised of one RCT, two large retrospective cohort studies, and 22 case series. The success rates reported varying widely from 13%‐100% with reports of symptomatic control deterioration. Complication rates remain low. This review highlighted a poor performance using the more historic bulking agents (BA), and the lack of strong evidence with the more novel BA in PPI and discussed challenges regarding optimal patient selection and techniques.
Conclusions
There exists poor clinical evidence base concerning the use of urethral bulking in PPI with few high‐level studies and a significant lack of consistency between studies. Further study in this area is required to evaluate the role of BA in this patient population.
A 32-year-old woman presents to outpatients 10 days postpartum, with symptoms of an intermittent vaginal lump and urinary incontinence. Vaginal examination revealed no demonstrable prolapse or stress incontinence. A swelling in the bladder was noted during an antenatal scan suggesting a ureterocoele. She was referred for pelvic floor physiotherapy in the first instance. Forty-eight hours later, she represented to casualty with discomforting vaginal lump symptoms and continuous urinary incontinence. At this stage on vaginal inspection, there was an evident dusky lump emerging from the urethra with continuous incontinence. An extravesical subsphincteric prolapsed ureterocoele was evident, 5 cm beyond the external urethral meatus. The diagnosis was confirmed with an MRI scan which demonstrated the prolapsed obstructing ureterocoele causing significant left-sided hydroureteronephrosis. The ureterocoele was managed with a cystoscopy and transurethral incision of the ureterocoele under anaesthesia, which facilitated drainage and resolution. At 3-month postoperatively, the patient remains continent and satisfied.
This is a case of a 91-year-old woman presenting with urinary incontinence following insertion of a Gellhorn pessary 10 months previously. She had unfortunately missed her 6 months appointment for a change of pessary as she was admitted to hospital. Our patient was found to have had erosion of her Gellhorn shelf pessary into her urinary bladder. She underwent an open removal of the migrated Gellhorn pessary in the bladder and repair of the vesicovaginal fistula with omental interposition. She recovered well and has elected to keep her suprapubic catheter long-term.
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