Management of Occult Urinary Incontinence with Prolapse Surgery

The purpose of this paper is to review (1) the epidemiology and pathophysiology of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and occult stress urinary incontinence (SUI), (2) examine the data on combined operative management of POP and occult SUI, (3) discuss the approaches to clinical decision making, and (4) present future therapies.

Prospective data on many approaches to concomitant treatment of prolapse and occult stress urinary incontinence, such as minimally invasive sacrocolpopexy and midurethral sling, or older approaches that have regained favor among patients and clinicians wishing to avoid synthetic mesh, such as native tissue prolapse repair and pubovaginal sling, are limited. Safe durable treatments with absorbable graft materials that promote a beneficial host response are intriguing but may be far from clinical implementation. Stem cell therapy for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence has demonstrated benefit in phase I/II trials but has not been studied in the setting of concomitant treatment of occult SUI with POP surgery and remains in the preclinical phase for the treatment of POP. A personalized approach to concomitant SUI surgery that incorporates individual risk assessment as well as informed patient preferences likely optimizes the risk/benefit ratio and patient satisfaction. Novel therapies, including graft materials and cellular therapies that stimulate a regenerative response, may improve or maintain continence outcomes while mitigating risk and alter the approach to both POP and SUI surgery.