Investigation and treatment of female urinary incontinence

There are four main types of urinary incontinence in the female namely stress incontinence, urge incontinence, overflow incontinence due to retention of urine and total incontinence. It is important to differentiate them to institute proper treatment. It is the aim of this paper to present a simple clinical evaluation of an incontinent woman. The different methods of surgical correction of stress incontinence are discussed. The latest trend is the paraurethral suspension of the bladder neck. 39 cases of Grade II stress incontinence were treated by paraurethral suspension of the bladder neck at "A" Unit, Kandang Kerbau Hospital and Dept. of Urology, SGH. 33 cases were cured. 4 improved with occasional stress incontinence, frequency and urgency. Of these, 3 were cured with imipramine. One failed because of a fixed, "lead pipe" rigid urethra from previous multiple operations to the bladder neck.