Prognostic factors for the operative correction of stress urinary incontinence

Investigating the reliability of using some clinical and laboratory parameters as long-term prognostic factors in properly selected patients for stress urinary surgery could help in the prediction of the long-term result in each case. Toward this goal 51 women were examined prospectively, after they were assessed by clinical and laboratory exams with particular emphasis on urodynamic studies. Out of this group, 41 patients had genuine stress incontinence, and 10 had mixed stress incontinence. Twenty-seven women underwent Burch colposuspension while 24 had Stamey endoscopic bladder neck suspension. In all patients clinical and urodynamic evaluation was done with the same methodology before the operation, and after one month and six months, respectively. The study indicated that 73% of the incontinent women were cured. According to the "analysis of variance" and "correlation analysis" methods the factors which were found to influence the operative result were as follows: (1) Clinical factors including preoperative urgency, U.T.I. and previous gynaecological operations. These factors had negative prognostic value, while the grade of incontinence did not influence at all the outcome of surgery. (2) Urodynamic factors including preoperative residual urine, immediate operative first sensation of micturition, maximum urine flow rate, pre- and immediate postoperative bladder capacity and functional length. These factors influence the operative result negatively or positively according to the deviation from the normal values. Furthermore, the important immediate postoperative change of the urodynamic values was found to determine the result of the operation.