Assessment of Physical Therapy Strategies for Recovery of Urinary Continence after Prostatectomy

Abstract

Introduction: Urinary incontinence is a complication of radical prostatectomy. Pelvic floor exercises can facilitate recovery of continence after surgery; however, there is not sufficient evidence that physical therapy with biofeedback training is effective, particularly with respect to providing a faster recovery. Objective: To analyze the application of physical therapy techniques in the recovery of urinary incontinence after prostatectomy. Methodology: A randomized clinical trial was conducted from April to October 2015 with patients undergoing radical prostatectomy up to three months after surgery at the Santa Casa de Misericordia in Northeastern Brazil. The physical therapy intervention consisted of up to eight individual sessions. Patients were randomized into the intervention group, which performed exercises and received biofeedback training, and the control group, which performed exercises alone. Participants were assessed before, during and after treatment. The initial assessment included a structured instrument addressing sociodemographic and urological data. Frequencies were calculated for all variables and comparisons were checked by the Mann-Whitney test and for correlation significance. Results: The study included 13 patients aged 54-74 years, the majority undergoing retropubic surgery with mild urinary incontinence [11 (84.6%)]. There was a significant difference in the outcome of the pad test before (p=0.070) and after (p=0.015) treatment between the groups, but the reduction of urinary loss and the time to recovery of continence were equivalent for both groups. Conclusion: Both interventions provided improvement in the degree of incontinence within two months of treatment.

Keywords: Prostatectomy; prostate cancer; pelvic floor; urinary incontinence.

Figure 1

Flowchart of Patients in the Various Stages of the Study