Vaginal electrostimulation for the treatment of genuine stress incontinence

The value of vaginal electrostimulation for genuine stress incontinence was evaluated in 30 women with this condition. Subjective and objective measurements were made before and after 3 and 15 months of treatment using urinary diaries, perineometry and pad tests. After 3 months use, 21 women (70%) reported a subjective improvement, but this had fallen to 9 (30%) by 15 months. There were significant reductions in the numbers of daily incontinent episodes and pad/pant changes and significant increases in the perineometry readings at both 3 and 15 months. There were no side-effects observed with electrostimulator use, but 1 patient withdrew due to a dislike of the method of treatment. Vaginal electrostimulation would seem to be a simple and well tolerated means of managing genuine stress incontinence in a selected group of women.