[Value of urodynamic studies in the framework of total radical prostatectomy]

In the service, sixty patients underwent a radical prostatectomy between 1987 and 1994. The last 35 candidates to radical prostatectomy were prospectively analyzed in urodynamic parameters preoperatively and two months afterwards. Five patients present an incontinence: two total incontinence and three moderate incontinence. In two of the patients there was a detrusor instability, in two others an urethral instability and in the last patient, we discover a diminution of the bladder functional capacity on the postoperative urodynamics. So, the question is now to determine if incontinence is only caused by a sphincteric insufficiency or by a bladder or urethral dysfunction. The preoperative urodynamics are important to appreciate the quality of sphincters and the quality of the bladder; it's also an important meeting between the patient and the surgeon. The postoperative urodynamics seem to be reserved to the patients who have some problems, so to search an explanation for the incontinence. All our patients underwent rehabilitative physiotherapy, which seems to help them to recover their continence.