Dr. Peggy Norton, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the U, is the principal investigator on a five year study of two surgical treatments for urinary incontinence, a seldom discussed health problem of women.
Urinary incontinence is a major problem among women. Two of five women in America have a bladder malfunction of some kind which causes them to lose urine.
This problem frequently develops after childbirth due to the stress placed on vaginal and abdominal tissues and organs.
Treatment for the condition depends on the type of incontinence diagnosed?stress, urge, overflow or a mixed form (two or more of the other forms).
A woman can have stress incontinence by laughing, coughing or lifting.
The clinical trial at the U School of Medicine is funded by a $1.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
“The U is one of nine centers nationwide chosen from over 100 academic centers that applied,” Norton said.
Norton is one of only two fellowship-trained urogynecologists in Utah. She heads the medical school’s division of urology and pelvic reconstructive surgery.
The two most commonly used surgical procedures in the United States for treating incontinence are the Burch procedure and the pubovaginal sling.
They are similar, but use different tissues and a different mechanism to support the bladder, according to Norton. She added that both surgeries are performed at the U.
“The procedure chosen depends on the surgeon’s training, where he or she practices and the practice environment,” Norton said. “The NIH wants to know if one of these procedures is better than the other, and should it be recommended in the future.”
Of the 770 participants to be enrolled nationwide in the trial, 90 will be at Utah hospitals, including University Hospital. In order to be included, patients must have been diagnosed with either stress or mixed incontinence, and they must be at least 21 years old.
Women who have already decided on surgery for the problem will be invited to participate in the collection of information for the clinical trial. The goal of the study is to gather data from these surgeries, then compare results.
The study is a random trial. Neither the patient nor the surgeon will know which procedure will be used until the patient has been anesthetized and the surgeon is told which procedure to use.
Participants will be followed for two years to track the success of the procedure or any complications that might arise from it.