Relevance of postcatheter removal incontinence to postoperative urinary function after radical prostatectomy

AIM: We examined whether postoperative urinary function after radical prostatectomy is associated with immediate incontinence just after catheter removal. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The current study included 80 patients with clinically localized prostate cancer, who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy between January 2002 and May 2004. The amount of immediate incontinence was measured with a 24-h pad test just after catheter removal. The patients were categorized into the three groups based on the stratified grade of immediate urinary incontinence: groups I (0 g; 47 patients), II (1-99 g; 23 patients) and III (100 g and above; 10 patients), respectively. Urinary function and bother were assessed by a self-administered questionnaire using the University of California Los Angeles, Prostate Cancer Index at baseline, and at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively. The differences in scores of urinary function, bother and clinicopathological parameters were assessed in the three groups with one-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: No significant difference was observed in the clinicopathological parameters in the three groups. Preoperatively significant difference of urinary function scores was not evident and that of urinary bother scores was not observed in the three groups. Postoperatively urinary function scores were significantly different throughout the postoperative periods investigated, whereas difference in urinary bother scores observed at 3 months tended to disappear with time. CONCLUSION: Postcatheter removal incontinence might be related to postoperative urinary function after radical prostatectomy, although further investigation is necessary regarding the criteria for categorization because of a small number of the patients.