Author(s)

Naser A. ElSawy^1,2, Hesham G. Mahran³, Abdullah G. Alkushi⁴

¹Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm al Qura University, Makkah, KSA.
²Department of Anatomy and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt.
³Department of Physical Therapy for Surgery, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁴Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, KSA.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of electrical stimulation of different anatomical variations of sacral surface on early recovery of urinary continence after radical prostatectomy. Methods: Twenty of 53 consecutive patients who underwent prostatectomy by a single surgeon were enrolled in this study. Ten patients were prospectively randomized to two groups; five patients in Sacral foramena stimulation group received postoperative surface electrical stimulation of sacral foramina area while five patients in control group did not received any electrical stimulation. Selection of remaining ten patients depended on sacral hiatus anatomical variations, assessed by plan X-rays. Of the ten patients, five patients with sacral hiatus subtotals were grouped under SHS1 while 5 patients with sacral hiatus totals were grouped as SHS2. Electrical stimulation for each group began 7 days after catheter removal, thrice a week for 8 weeks. Each of the 24 treatment sessions for each group composed of 20 minutes for sacral electrical stimulation. Continence was evaluated at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks using the 24-hour pad test and according to the incontinence section of the International Continence Society questionnaire. Results: After 2 weeks of treatment, the mean leakage weight was comparable between SFS group and SHS1 group while it was significantly lowered in SHS2 as compared to SFS and SHS1 groups. Comparing mean leakage weight at 8 weeks revealed further significant reduction in SHS2 group than in SFS and SHS1 groups. Moreover, percentage of continent patients was highest in SHS2 group after 8 weeks of treatment followed by SHS1, SFS and control respectively. Conclusions: Electrical stimulation of sacral hiatus surface area may provide better stimulation for sacral nerve than sacral foramena surface area and appears to be effective treatment for early recovery of urinary continence after radical prostatectomy.

Urinary Incontinence, Electrical Stimulation, Sacral Foramina, Sacral Hiatus Area, Radical Prostatectomy

ElSawy, N. , Mahran, H. and Alkushi, A. (2017) Impact of Therapeutic Electrical Stimulation of Sacral Surface Considering Individual Anatomical Sacral Variations on Early Recovery Urinary Continence after Radical Prostatectomy. Forensic Medicine and Anatomy Research, 5, 1-13. doi: 10.4236/fmar.2017.51001.