What does urinary incontinence mean?
It is a state of urinary incontinence that occurs outside the control of the person and opens door to social or hygienic problems.
Urinary Incontinence Treatment
It is applied after urinary incontinence caused by bladder infection, vaginal infection, bladder tumors, stones, hormonal changes after menopause, difficult births, nervous diseases, abdominal radiation therapy, prostate enlargement in men, some drugs types, bladder obstructions.
Urinary incontinence can occur in various ways, such as:
By determining the reasons that lead to the incontinence, exercises or drug therapy are tried first. Today, highly effective drugs are used to prevent this problem. The duration and dose of drug treatment is a situation that varies from patient to patient. However, stress urinary incontinence type may not respond to medication. Examination of urinary incontinence is done with detailed information and physical evaluation obtained from the patient. Some tests for the function of the urinary system are done to clearly demonstrate the problem. It may be necessary to measure the pressure inside the bladder using the method called urodynamics, and to visualize the bladder with special films such as ultrasound or cystography.
If there are other underlying causes, it should be diagnosed and treated. In cases requiring surgical intervention, treatment is provided quite simply with safe and highly successful methods developed recently, especially for women. Methods that give rapid results without any stitch marks outside the body are successfully carried out today. In the general majority of patients, treatment can be completed in a day. If the following types of urinary incontinence are in question, treatment can be provided by contacting a urologist:
What kind of treatment is applied to those suffering from urinary incontinence?
Exercise: In some cases, the primary method to be applied is exercise. Exercise application can be given in different ways. The patient is taught to contract his own muscles correctly. This technique is called “kegel exercise”. Patients' incompatibility can be observed in this technique. The newest method developed is the technique called "Magnetic Pelvic Floor Stimulation". It is considered to be a highly effective method against urinary incontinence. The study, which is applied 2-3 times a week, is completed in approximately 20 minutes. It is an application that is not painful and can be done very easily. With this exercise, which allows the pelvic floor muscles to work effectively by doing passive exercise, the person feels their muscles contract and their muscles become stronger. It is possible to treat urinary incontinence with stronger muscles.
This treatment is suitable for the following patients and urinary incontinence can end without the need for surgical intervention:
There are no side effects in people who have been treated with Magnetic Pelvic Floor Stimulation. It is a form of treatment that can be repeated at certain time intervals in patients who have benefited after 16-20 sessions. If patients do not benefit, different treatments should be applied.
Drug treatment: Drug treatment is administered alone or in combination with other methods for patients who have urinary incontinence before reaching the toilet due to coughing and sneezing. Drugs used to prevent urinary incontinence can be effective after long-term use. Some medications may have side effects, so they can be a problem especially in summer heat.
Surgical treatment: In previous surgeries, the method that allows the bladder to be pulled upward was used. Since the patients who underwent surgery had urinary incontinence problems after the second year, alternative treatments were used. Since it was realized that the main cause of urinary incontinence was the insufficiency of the supporting muscle tissue in the pelvic floor, a specific support material such as a hammock was started to be placed on the floor in a way that prevents the bladder from descending. The recovery period of the application called TVT is a short and simple procedure. The daily procedure is performed with local anesthesia. This technique has simplified the treatment of urinary incontinence and is a reliable method. The success rate of operation has been determined as 90% after the operation and as 80% after five years.
What is the goal of surgical treatment and how is it applied?
The main goal in surgery is to return the sagging bladder and urinary tract to normal, to correct if there is sagging in the uterus, and to return the genital area muscles to their former shape.
How is urinary incontinence surgery applied?
Surgery is applied either only to correct urinary incontinence or to correct additional pelvic abnormalities (bladder, large intestine and uterine prolapse, gas leakage) if present. Operations performed only for urinary incontinence problem are now performed with local anesthesia and the patient is discharged on the day of the surgery.
How is urinary incontinence surgery applied?
Operations used in the past have been abandoned due to very low success rates. Today, only Burch colposuspension and tension-free urethropexies (TVT, IVS, MPS etc.) are used.
Are the success rates of these surgeries high?
Success rates are approximately 90-95%..
What are the most important factors affecting success rates?
The most important reason that negatively affects the success rates is having a previous operation. Unfortunately, these ineffective operations continue to be performed even today, and this groups of patients are formed by some of these patients with past surgeries. For this reason, the patient should be evaluated well. And the most suitable surgery should be selected for the person.
