Bridging the gap between perioperative pelvic floor training and urologic surgeries with risk of incontinence by digital technologies: a survey. (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Pelvic floor training (PFT) is the gold standard for conservative treatment of male stress urinary incontinence. OBJECTIVE To evaluate patients´ perspective at risk of incontinence on PFT and application of digital technologies for PFT. METHODS Patients undergoing transurethral surgery of the prostate (group I), radical prostatectomy (group II) or treatment at a specialized incontinence outpatient clinic (group III) were surveyed anonymously. Chi-Square test and Kruskal-Wallis-analysis were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS 180 patients were included in the final analysis. In group I (n=35) no patient underwent PFT prior to transurethral surgery. 23.5% of patients in group II (n=51) and 95.7% of patients in group III (n=94) performed PFT. 11.4% in group I, 80.4% in group II and 91.5% in group III have been advised to perform PFT by their urologist. Regarding the information level on PFT, patients from group I (median 1, range 0-5) are less satisfied than patients from group II (median 3, 0-9) or group III (median 5, range 0-10, p CONCLUSIONS Patients at risk of incontinence currently have limited access to PFT, although they are willing to perform PFT. Digital PFT is highly accepted by patients preoperatively and might be a valuable tool to increase PFT participation.