No abstract

While historians, ethicists and the popular press have debated Dr. Sims' legacy, medical sources have continued to portray him unquestionably as a great figure in medical history. This division keeps the medical profession uninformed and detached from the public debate on his legacy and, thus, the larger issues of ethical treatment of surgical patients.

Introduction. The diagnosis of detrusor-external sphincter dyssynergia (DESD) is a clinically relevant finding during urodynamic testing. However, there is no consensus regarding diagnostic specifics of electromyography (EMG) or voiding cystourethrography (VCUG). We evaluated the concordance of the two modalities most commonly used in clinical practice for the diagnosis of DESD. Methods. Patients were prospectively evaluated by a single urodynamicist at an academic center and retrospectively re-evaluated by an independent urodynamicist for agreement. DESD was determined by increased patch EMG activity or a dilated bladder neck/proximal urethra on VCUG during detrusor contraction. Minimal acceptable criterion for agreement was set at 70%. Results. Forty-six patients were diagnosed with DESD with both modalities available. Of these 46 patients, 25 were diagnosed by both tests, 11 by VCUG alone and 10 by patch EMG alone. Binomial testing demonstrated the proportion of agreement was 54% (95% CI 39% to 68%). Conclusion. We found significant disagreement between the two modalities, similar to previously reported findings using needle EMG, and we expand the applicability of our data to the majority of clinicians who use patch EMG electrodes. This further supports the idea that the combined use of EMG and VCUG for diagnosis can identify more cases of DESD than either modality alone.

Objective. We evaluated the use of a one-week ambulatory pessary trial in predicting patients' postoperative outcomes for occult stress incontinence. Methods. Patients with anterior vaginal wall prolapse were offered a pessary trial to predict response to reconstruction. We performed a retrospective review of 4 years of cases. All patients underwent a detailed evaluation including videourodynamics with and without pessary reduction. Results. Twenty-six patients completed the 1-week pessary trial. Ten (38%) women showing no evidence of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) underwent surgical repair of prolapse without anti-incontinence procedure. None of these patients had SUI postoperatively. Sixteen women (61%) had occult stress urinary incontinence on evaluation and underwent concurrent sling procedure. Three (19%) of these patients were identified by the pessary trial alone. Twenty-five of the 26 patients were without clinical stress incontinence at a mean follow up of 12 months (range 4–37 months). The pessary trial correctly predicted persistent urgency in six patients and persistent frequency in five. No patients with SUI or persistent voiding difficult were missed in a pessary trial. Conclusion. An ambulatory pessary trial is an effective, easy, and inexpensive method to approximate anatomic results achieved by surgery under real-life conditions. In our series, 20% of patients with occult SUI were identified by pessary trial alone.

PurposeExisting data supports a relationship between pelvic floor dysfunction and lower urinary tract symptoms. We developed a survival model of pelvic floor dysfunction in the rabbit and evaluated cystometric (CMG), electromyographic (EMG) and ambulatory voiding behavior.Materials and MethodsTwelve female adult virgin rabbits were housed in metabolic cages to record voiding and defecation. Anesthetized CMG/EMG was performed before and after treatment animals (n=9) received bilateral tetanizing needle stimulation to the pubococcygeous (PC) muscle and controls (n=3) sham needle placement. After 7 days all animals were subjected to tetanizing transvaginal stimulation and CMG/EMG. After 5 days a final CMG/EMG was performed.ResultsOf rabbits that underwent needle stimulation 7 of 9 (78%) demonstrated dysfunctional CMG micturition contractions versus 6 of 12 (50%) after transvaginal stimulation. Needle stimulation of the PC musculature resulted in significant changes in: basal CMG pressure, precontraction pressure change, contraction pressure, interval between contractions and postvoid residual; with time to 3rd contraction increased from 38 to 53 minutes (p=0.008 vs. prestimulation). Vaginal noxious stimulation resulted in significant changes in: basal CMG pressure and interval between contractions; with time to 3rd contraction increased from 37 to 46 minutes (p=0.008 vs. prestimulation). Changes in cage parameters were primarily seen after direct needle stimulation.ConclusionsIn a majority of animals, tetanizing electrical stimulation of the rabbit pelvic floor resulted in voiding changes suggestive of pelvic floor dysfunction as characterized by a larger bladder capacity, longer interval between contractions and prolonged contraction duration.