WASHINGTON (September 14, 2011)—New evidence indicates that preventative treatment during transvaginal pelvic organ prolapse surgery can reduce the incidence of post-operative urinary incontinence, a common side effect after pelvic organ prolapse surgery. This information was presented at the American Urogynecologic Society’s 32^nd Annual Scientific Meeting, Sept. 14 –17, in Providence, Rhode Island.

In this multicenter, randomized trial, John T. Wei, MD and his colleagues from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Pelvic Floor Disorders Network tracked results of more than 300 women undergoing pelvic organ prolapse surgery who did not display pre-surgery symptoms of stress urinary incontinence. During surgery, a mid-urethral sling—a common treatment for urinary incontinence—was inserted in half the women. Other women received a “placebo surgery,” where the physician did not add any surgical procedures to the pelvic organ prolapse surgery. The latter was used as a control group.

The research team examined the women for incontinence at three months and one year post-surgery. At three months, women who received a sling during surgery reported 23.6% incidence of bothersome urinary incontinence or treatment for incontinence in comparison to 49.4% in the placebo group. At one year post-surgery, 27.3% of sling patients reported bothersome urinary incontinence, as compared to and 43.0% of the placebo group, even after allowing for women to undergo treatment for incontinence symptoms.

“Our findings suggest that preventative treatment for urinary incontinence during pelvic organ prolapse surgery decreases the incidence of bothersome urinary incontinence symptoms ” said Dr. Wei.

For more information about Dr. Wei’s study, please visit www.augs.org.

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The American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS), founded in 1979, is a physician-based organization dedicated to research, education and sharing of best practices in Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery that results in improved care for women. For more information, visit www.augs.org.

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