Management of occult stress urinary incontinence with prolapse surgery.

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI), are two common health-related conditions, each affecting up to 50% women worldwide. Stress urinary incontinence only observed after the reduction of co-existent prolapse is called occult SUI (OSUI), and is found in up to 80% of women with advanced POP. Although there is no consensus on how to diagnose OSUI, there are several reported methods to better diagnose. Counseling symptomatically continent women with POP concerning the potential risk for developing SUI postoperatively cannot be overstated. Evidence suggests that positive OSUI in symptomatically continent women who are planning to have POP repair is associated with a high risk of POSUI, furthermore, adding continence procedure is found to reduce postoperative SUI. Therefore, adding continence surgery at the time of POP surgery in patients who are found to have OSUI preoperatively is advocated.