Do we need better information to advise women with stress incontinence on their choice of surgery? Report from the ICI-RS 2018.

AIMS: The regulatory warnings about the safety of the synthetic midurethral slings (MUS) had a significant effect on how patients and physicians approach surgical management of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). In this changing landscape, the purpose of this research Think Tank (TT) was to provide an update of the current knowledge about the safety and efficacy of SUI surgery, to review patient goals and expectations and to identify factors affecting the decision making for surgery. METHODS: This is a consensus report of the proceedings of TT3: "Do we need better information to advise women with stress incontinence on their choice of surgery?" from the annual International Consultation on Incontinence-Research Society (ICI-RS), June 2018. RESULTS: Despite the body of evidence supporting the continued use of MUS, the short follow-up of most of the studies and the lack of "real life" data regarding pain and sexual dysfunction make the development of recommendations challenging. Women with SUI are often happy to "trade" efficacy for a procedure with less associated morbidity and therefore it is not always the procedure with the highest success rate that is ultimately chosen. However, a number of factors influence treatment decision and there is limited evidence about what level of all these factors women are willing to tolerate for a given success rate, or how much success they are willing to trade for a lower complication rate. CONCLUSIONS: The ICI-RS proposed research questions which may be able to assist in improving the counseling and management of women with SUI.

Disciplinary Imbalances in Urology and Gynecology Research Publications within Functional Urology.

(1) Background: This study aimed to quantify and evaluate the publication rate and discrepancies of functional urology abstracts from international conferences, and to explore the interdisciplinary contributions of urology and gynecology to the field. (2) Methods: A retrospective bibliometric and content analysis was conducted on abstracts presented between 2015 and 2019 at the EAU and ICS congresses, focusing on functional-urological keywords. A discrepancy scoring system ranging from 0 (minor discrepancies) to 3 (significant discrepancies) assessed the consistency between conference abstracts and full-text publications, and an in-depth analysis determined the disciplinary origin of these publications. (3) Results: Between 2015 and 2019, 53% of EAU and 57% of ICS congress abstracts were published as full-text articles, with minor discrepancies in 38% of EAU and 49% of ICS publications, and significant discrepancies in 17% from both. Urology departments dominated publications, contributing 68% at EAU and 55% at ICS, whereas gynecology contributed only 1% at EAU and 12% at ICS. (4) Conclusions: This study illuminates the need for improved reporting standards and interdisciplinary collaboration in functional urology, as well as increased gynecology research in functional urology-related fields, suggesting that addressing these issues is crucial for advancing the field and enhancing patient care.