Treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) by intravaginal electrical stimulation (IES) and pelvic floor physiotherapy represents na alternative to the other therapies. With the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of this treatment the authors studied 20 patients.
From january 1998 to july 1999, 20 women with mean 55 years old were studied. All patients presented USI and 85% incontinence by urgency, with follow-up of average of 3 months. Selection criteria were based on clinical history, objective evaluation of perineal musculature with perineometer and urodynamic study. Treatment protocol consisted of 3 weekly sessions of elestrostimulation during 14 weeks using the equipament INNOVA. Physiotherapy was initiated at the fifth week concurrent to IES.
The data of the Pad Test showed a reduction of 14 gram to 4 gram in the leakage urinary in the post-treatment (p < 0,01). The objetive evaluation of the musculature force in all patients revealed a significant improvement post-treatment (p < 0,01). Over a hundred surgical procedures or conservative treatment were attempted for the management of stress urinary incontinence. The large number of procedures reveals that despite the progress already have made in this area, there is not na ideal treatmente for stress urinary incontinence. Satisfactory results can be achieved, mainly with patientes who are reluctant to undergo surgery because of personal or clinical problems or because the patients is not willing to undergo another surgery.