Bratt H, Salvesen K A, Eriksen B C, Kulseng-Hanssen S
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Trondheim University Hospital, Norway.
Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand Suppl. 1998;168:22-4.
The purpose was to study any long-term therapeutic effects of maximal electrical stimulation in female urge incontinence.
A postal questionnaire containing six questions about urinary incontinence was distributed to 30 women who had been treated with maximal stimulation because of unstable detrusor and urge incontinence 9-13 years earlier. The response rate was 90% (27 women). The mean age at follow-up was 62 years.
Twenty-one (78%) women reported symptoms of urge incontinence. Among them, 13 had this problem daily, whereas eight only had problems weekly or even more seldom. Nineteen (70%) women reported symptoms of stress incontinence. Twenty-one women would have recommended maximal stimulation to a friend today.
After approximately ten years most of the women had symptoms of urge incontinence. This was, however, a minor problem among a third of them. A majority of the women were satisfied with maximal stimulation as a treatment modality. The treatment had not prevented a later occurrence of stress incontinence.
