title: Assessment of Physical Therapy Strategies for Recovery of Urinary Continence after Prostatectomy
abstract: Introduction: Urinary incontinence is a complication of radical prostatectomy. Pelvic floor exercises can facilitate
  recovery of continence after surgery; however, there is not sufficient evidence that physical therapy with biofeedback
  training is effective, particularly with respect to providing a faster recovery. Objective: To analyze the application of
  physical therapy techniques in the recovery of urinary incontinence after prostatectomy. Methodology: A randomized
  clinical trial was conducted from April to October 2015 with patients undergoing radical prostatectomy up to three
  months after surgery at the Santa Casa de Misericordia in Northeastern Brazil. The physical therapy intervention
  consisted of up to eight individual sessions. Patients were randomized into the intervention group, which performed
  exercises and received biofeedback training, and the control group, which performed exercises alone. Participants
  were assessed before, during and after treatment. The initial assessment included a structured instrument addressing
  sociodemographic and urological data. Frequencies were calculated for all variables and comparisons were checked by
  the Mann-Whitney test and for correlation significance. Results: The study included 13 patients aged 54-74 years, the
  majority undergoing retropubic surgery with mild urinary incontinence [11 (84.6%)]. There was a significant difference
  in the outcome of the pad test before (p=0.070) and after (p=0.015) treatment between the groups, but the reduction of
  urinary loss and the time to recovery of continence were equivalent for both groups. Conclusion: Both interventions
  provided improvement in the degree of incontinence within two months of treatment.
authors.affiliation: Master’s degree in Public Health, University of Fortaleza – UNIFOR, Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil. Email:mvlsaintrain@yahoo.com.br
authors.forename: Nivea Adriano de Santana
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.forename: Maria Vieira de Lima
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Saintrain
authors.forename: Rommel Prata
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Regadas
authors.forename: Romulo Augusto
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: da Silveira
authors.forename: Francisco Julimar Correia
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: de Menezes
keywords: Prostatectomy; prostate cancer; pelvic floor; urinary incontinence