What to do about urinary incontinence after prostate cancer surgery

Urinary incontinence is the most annoying complication after radical prostatectomy, but fortunately the incidence of this complication is low. A large number of reports at home and abroad show that the incidence of urinary incontinence after radical prostatectomy is about 10%. After the catheter is removed after radical prostatectomy, the urinary function will not be restored immediately. At first, you may only be able to control urination when lying in bed. Later, you will not have urinary incontinence when walking. Gradually, there will be no involuntary leakage of urine when you change your body position (such as sitting, standing up).

Stress urinary incontinence can be improved through ani-lifting exercises, that is, when standing to urinate, try to repeatedly tighten the pelvic muscles to stop the urine flow, which helps to strengthen the external sphincter to achieve the effect of controlling urination. However, this exercise is not suitable for frequent performance, which will make the sphincter in a state of fatigue and have the opposite effect. Before the urinary control function has not been fully restored, you can use a doctor-recommended urine pad, but never use an external urinary catheter, which is not conducive to the recovery of sphincter function.

In addition, drinking a lot of water, strong tea, coffee and excessive alcohol intake are not conducive to the recovery of urinary control function. If urinary incontinence does not improve day by day, you can contact your doctor. There are many drugs that can relieve incontinence. If you still cannot control your urination one year after the operation, you need to choose a treatment plan, one of which is to place an artificial sphincter. In this operation, a rubber pressure sleeve is put on the urethra, a liquid sac is placed in the abdominal cavity and connected to it, and a micro pressure pump is connected to the scrotum.

Controlling the pressure pump in the scrotum can press the liquid in the sac into the pressure sleeve, closing the urethra. When urination is needed, the pressure sleeve can be emptied outside the body to open the urethra. Other treatments include injecting collagen into the bladder neck and urethra. The simplest method is to use a penis clamp (available in some large pharmacies). These methods can enable patients with urinary incontinence to carry out normal life and activities.