Side effect after radical prostatectomy: one in eight men suffers from urinary incontinence one year after surgery
Men who must undergo radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer commonly suffer from urinary incontinence after surgery. However, the percentage of men with involuntary urine loss decreases with time since surgery. The risk of postoperative incontinence varies with a number of factors including age of the patient and surgical method.
Urologists at the University of Padua, Italy, have asked 985 men who underwent radical prostatectomy between 1986 and 2001 whether, and for how long, they suffered from urinary incontinence after surgery (BJU International 2006; 97: 1234-1241). The survey also looked at factors that may increase the risk of postoperative urinary incontinence.
The percentage of men regaining continence after surgery increased steadily during the first two years after surgery: No urine loss was reported by 68.2% of the patients after three months, by 78% six months later and by 86.9% after one year. Two years after radical prostatectomy 93.2% of the men had no symptoms of urinary incontinence. Overall, men took an average of 4.5 months to regain continence after surgery.
The urologists identified several risk factors that increased the likelihood of postoperative urinary incontinence. The older a man was at the time of surgery, the more likely he was to experience involuntary urine loss. The surgical method was also found to have an impact on the postoperative continence rate. Other negative prognostic factors included resection of the neurovascular bundle and presence of an anastomotic stricture.
