A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY OF QUANTIFICATION OF URINARY-INCONTINENCE AND QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING RADICAL RETROPUBIC PROSTATECTOMY

Objectives. To prospectively evaluate the level of urinary incontinenc e and its impact on quality of life in patients undergoing radical ret ropubic prostatectomy. Methods. Patients completed a 24-hour pad test together with an incontinence and duality-of-life questionnaire before and after surgery. Results. Patients were followed up for an average of 7.6 months (range 4.7 to 12.5) after radical prostatectomy. The 24- hour pad test demonstrated that 87% of patients had some incontinence at 1 month and 63% at 6 months after surgery. The median volume of uri ne leakage was 34 mL at the last follow-up visit; 55% of patients indi cated substantial bother from incontinence at the 1-month follow-up vi sit and 29% at the 6-month follow-up visit. For most patients, there w as a substantial discrepancy between the reported and the measured lev el of incontinence. Patient-reported bother regarding incontinence cor related best to the actual amount of urine loss. Conclusions. Patients become incontinent after surgery but improve over time. Seventeen per cent of patients still experienced leakage of more than 150 mL daily a t the last follow-up visit. The questionnaire utilized in this study i dentifies the presence of incontinence but was not accurate in estimat ing the amount of urine loss. Initially, quality of life was reduced b y surgery but improved over time and nearly returned to the preoperati ve level.