The Valsalva Urethral Profile : a Measure to Assess Stress Urinary Incontinence

Valsalva Urethral Profile (VUP) : a New Measure to Assess Stress Urinary Incontinence in Women

Clinical and paraclinical appraisal of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is mainly based on the assessment of pelvic floor muscles (PFM) contraction and urethral mobility, the measurement of the maximum urethral closure pressure (MUCP) at rest by urethral pressure profilometry (UPP) and the measurement of the Valsalva leak point pressure (VLPP).

Currently, MUCP and VLPP cannot be used for diagnosing SUI because they appear to be moderately correlated with the severity of SUI.

The lack of a specific SUI biomarker could be the explanation for the poor predictive value of urodynamics and the ongoing debate on whether urodynamic testing before surgery has benefits. Our main objective was to study the value of a new urodynamic parameter in the diagnosis of female SUI: the Valsalva urethral profile (VUP)

Inclusion Criteria:

• women over the age of 18 years, referred for urodynamic exploration of the lower urinary tract, with or without lower urinary tract disorders (TUBA)
• women who gave their consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• pelvic organ prolapse (POP) ≥ stage 2 according to the POP-Q classification
• history of surgery for SUI and / or POP,
• acute urinary tract infection,
• proven neurological pathology,
• urine retention,
• a history of pneumothorax
• a lability of MUCP ≥ 15 cmH2O