Transurethral injection of polyacrylamide hydrogel (Bulkamid®) for the treatment of recurrent stress urinary incontinence after failed tape surgery
Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the cure effect of a transurethral injection of Bulkamid® for recurrent female stress and mixed urinary incontinence in women who had undergone failed tape surgery. Our hypothesis was that cure effect of Bulkamid® is positive in patients when previous tape anti-incontinence surgery has been unsuccessful.
Methods: Retrospective clinical study. Methods: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University and General Faculty Hospital in Prague. Methods: This retrospective study featured 34 patients with recurrent urinary incontinence (SUI: 28, mixed: 6 - predominant symptom was SUI) after unsuccessful tape anti-incontinence surgery. 25 of the patients had undergone anti-incontinence surgery more than once. The cure effect of a transurethral injection of Bulkamid® was evaluated an average of 29 months after the surgery; the minimum period after surgery was 6 months. Subjective assessment of the leakage of urine was based on the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Short form (ICIQ-UI SF) filled in before and after surgery. An improvement in urinary incontinence was defined as a drop in the score of more than 50%. Objective assessment of leakage of urine was assessed by cough test. The cure effect was evaluated by VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) score and by using the five-point Likert score. Ethical committee approval was obtained, and all subjects gave written informed consent to participate in the study.
Results: The mean age of patients was 71.03 years, mean body mass index (BMI) 29.12 and mean parity 1.91. The cough test showed that 4/34 (11.8%) of patients had negative results for this test after the operation. The ICIQ-UI SF questionnaire showed that 14/34 (41.2%) of our patients were dry or improved after surgery. The mean VAS score was 62.4 after the operation. The Likert score was 4 or 5 (cured or improved) after the operation for 88.2% of patients.
Conclusions: Our hypothesis that the cure effect of Bulkamid® operation would be positive in patients who have undergone previous unsuccessful tape anti-incontinence surgery was partially confirmed. The Likert and VAS scores indicate that the effect of Bulkamid® surgery is good; however, an evaluation of the cure effect of this procedure based on the ICIQ-UI SF score is less positive. This kind of operation, which is minimally invasive, is less arduous for patients, and it is also suitable for patients who have refused further surgical treatment.