Sexual Function Improvement Following Surgery for Stress Incontinence: The Relevance of Coital Incontinence

Abstract

Introduction Little is known about the impact of surgery for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) on female sexual function, and results are conflicting. Aims We aimed to clarify the impact of surgery for SUI on female sexual function. Methods We analyzed data collected from two studies evaluating sexual function in women after placement of the tension-free vaginal tape, tension-free vaginal tape obturator, or transobturator suburethral tape. A nonvalidated sexual questionnaire developed by Lemack, translated into Dutch, was mailed to all patients 3–12 months after the procedure. Main Outcome Measures Pre- and postoperative results of a nonvalidated sexual questionnaire. Results A total of 136 sexually active women completed the questionnaires. Compared with preoperative responses, we observed no significant changes postsurgical regarding frequency of sexual intercourse or satisfaction of sexual intercourse, although a significant postoperative decrease in urinary coital incontinence (P ≤ 0.001) was found. Postoperatively, 29 women (21.3%) reported improved sexual intercourse, and eight women (5.9%) complained of a worsening. There was a significant higher rate of preoperative coital incontinence (86.2% women with coital incontinence) in the group of women who reported improved intercourse (P = 0.01). Conclusion Women with coital incontinence show a significant higher improvement in sexual function after surgery for SUI compared to women without coital incontinence. Our results suggest that improvement in coital incontinence results in improvement of sexual function. Therefore, coital incontinence is a prognostic factor for improvement of sexual function following incontinence surgery.

Effects of Transobturator Midurethral Sling Surgery on Sexual Functions: One-Year Follow-Up

“…Pace and Vicentini [22], in a similar study in 71 women showed 90.1% improvement in the FSFI scores at the postoperative 12 months in 71 women after TOT. Bekker et al [23] suggested that there was 21.3% improvement in sexual functions after urinary incontinence surgery.…”

“…Coital incontinence is an important factor in determining sexual functions after anti-incontinence surgery [23]. The prevalence of coital incontinence ranges from 10 to 56% [27,28].…”

Sexual function and health-related quality of life following anterior vaginal wall surgery for stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse

“…These results are in agreement with others. 11,25,27,28 Twenty-two patients (10 in the SUI group and 12 in the POP group) who were sexually active preoperatively did not regain sexual intercourse, because they worried that sexual activity would affect the surgical outcome. This is considered to be another negative effect on FSF after anterior vaginal surgery.…”

Incontinence and Chronic Illness

“…Bekker et al (30) revisaron la cirugía para la IU en la función sexual de las mujeres sin encontrar cambios posquirúrgicos sobre la frecuencia o satisfacción en sus relaciones pero sí una disminución en la IU durante las mismas.…”

“…Varios clínicos investigadores han evaluado métodos de inyección de macroplástico que puede hacerse bajo anestesia local en un procedimiento ambulatorio para corregir la IU de estrés en mujeres y señalan que este implante es efectivo a corto, mediano y largo plazo, que es bien aceptado para corregir este síntoma y que tiene pocos efectos colaterales (30)(31)(32)(33). Tabla 2.…”