CLINICAL EVOLUTION AND SATISFACTION LEVEL OF PATIENTS WITH URINARY INCONTINENCE AND/OR URGENCY TREATED WITH HIGH-INTENSITY FOCUSED ULTRASOUND

Abstract

Urinary incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine. It is classified as stress urinary incontinence, urgency urinary incontinence and mixed incontinence; currently HIFU technology: High Intensity Focused Ultrasound is used to tighten the area and treat urinary incontinence. A retrospective longitudinal descriptive study was performed in patients, who attended private consultation between November 2019 to December 2023, in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. The unit of analysis was 121 patients who consulted for stress urinary incontinence and/or voiding urgency. The instruments used were: the urinary incontinence questionnaire ICIQ-SF and a satisfaction survey. The results obtained were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 25.0, and were represented in graphs and tables, making it possible to evaluate the benefits of HIFU on the improvement of urinary incontinence symptoms. Results: There was improvement in cases of moderate incontinence from 49.58% to 2.47%, and 89% in voiding urgency, such improvement was maintained in 52% for 3 years. The satisfaction rate was 92%. The most common side effects were pain (16.52%) with the introduction of the HIFU cartridge, continuation of symptoms (7.43%) and reactivation of genital herpes lesions (4.13%). The application of the chi2 test demonstrates statistical significance. It is concluded that HIFU is a non-surgical, safe, fast and successful medical alternative in the treatment of mild and moderate stress urinary incontinence and urinary urgency type, improving the quality of life and maintaining its effectiveness for 3 years in 52% of cases, with a level of satisfaction of 92% and few side effects.