Pelvic floor menopause Archives - Revista Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia

Purpose: to study the relationship between pelvic floor function and bladder neck mobility in women with and without stress urinary incontinence (SUI), in menacme and postmenopausal. Methods: sixty-one SUI patients were evaluated; 31 of them were in menacme and of these 17 had SUI and 14 did not have any complaint; 30 were postmenopausal and of these, 15 with SUI and 15 without SUI. Simple cystometry and empty supine stress test were performed in those who had urinary incontinence complaint. Bladder neck mobility was studied by ultrasound and by the Q-tip test. To study pelvic floor function, vaginal cones and digital palpation were used. Results: the bladder neck position in the incontinent women (Groups A and C), determined by ultrasound or the Q tip-test, was --11.8 cm in Group A and --12.5 cm in Group C, lower than the continent women, in whom the bladder neck was at +4.4 cm in Group B and +2.3 cm in Group D. There were no differences in bladder neck mobility among the continent menacme (9.1 cm) and postmenopausal (9.5 cm) groups. Also there were no differences among the incontinent groups (17.1 cm for Group A and 16.6 cm for Group C). The bladder neck mobility was greater in the incontinent women (A and C). Continent women had better results on evaluation of pelvic floor muscles than the incontinent ones, even using vaginal cones or digital palpation, and these results were not dependent on the hormonal status. Conclusion: a positive correlation was found between the Q-tip tests and ultrasound, and between test with vaginal cones and digital palpation. No significant correlation was found between pelvic floor function and bladder neck mobility.