Efficacy of physiotherapy for urinary incontinence following prostate cancer surgery

The study enrolled 81 with urinary incontinence following radical prostate-only prostatectomy for prostatic carcinoma. The patients were divided into two groups. The patients in Group I were additionally subdivided into two subgroups with respect to the physiotherapeutic method used. The patients of subgroup IA received a rehabilitation program consisting of three parts. The patients of subgroup IB rehabilitation program consist of two parts. Group II, a control group, had reported for therapy for persistent urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy but had not entered therapy for personal reasons. For estimating the level of incontinence, a 1-hour and 24-hour urinary pad tests, the miction diary, and incontinence questionnaire were used, and for recording the measurements of pelvic floor muscles tension, the sEMG (surface electromyography) was applied. The therapy duration depended on the level of incontinence and it continued for not longer than 12 months. Superior continence outcomes were obtained in Group I versus Group II and the difference was statistically significant. The odds ratio for regaining continence was greater in the rehabilitated Group I and smaller in the group II without the rehabilitation. A comparison of continence outcomes revealed a statistically significant difference between Subgroups IA versus IB. The physiotherapeutic procedures applied on patients with urine incontinence after prostatectomy, for most of them, proved to be an effective way of acting, which is supported by the obtained results.