Angie Rantell

Minimum standards for continence care in the UK.

This paper reports on the publication of a joint statement on minimum standards for continence care in the UK.

Lower urinary tract symptoms in women with multiple sclerosis: 2

Bladder dysfunction in women with multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common and distressing problem affecting up to 75% of patients (Das Gupta and Fowler, 2003). It can seriously affect their quality of life and in some cases cause deterioration of MS symptoms. The first part of this article (Rantell, 2009) set out how to perform a full assessment of these patients and how to diagnose their lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). This second article aims to provide an overview of the conservative, pharmacological and surgical management of lower urinary tract symptoms. Often women will need a combination of therapies to achieve optimum benefit from treatment. Management and interventions should be regularly re-assessed as womens symptoms and their severity may change over time as the disease progresses.

How does lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) affect sexual function in men and women? ICI‐RS 2015—Part 2

To discuss available data on the links between LUTD and sexual dysfunction, what is still unknown about the causative effect of disease processes on sexual function (SF), and to suggest proposals for further research.

Do we manage incontinence in children and adults with special needs adequately? ICI-RS 2014.

To review studies on the associations of incontinence and special needs in children and adults and to outline future directions in research and clinical care.

Adolescents with nocturnal enuresis and daytime urinary incontinence-How can pediatric and adult care be improved-ICI-RS 2015?: Adolescents With Incontinence

Nocturnal enuresis (NE) and daytime urinary incontinence (DUI) are common in adolescents. The aim of this paper was to review studies on prevalence, clinical symptoms and associated risk factors and to formulate recommendations for assessment and treatment.

Anticholinergic prescription: are healthcare professionals the real burden?

Introduction and hypothesisAnticholinergic medication is the medical treatment for overactive bladder (OAB). These drugs can act on the central nervous system and can lead to cognitive decline, dementia, and potentially death. Patients taking drugs with anticholinergic effects increase their anticholinergic burden—defined as the cumulative effect of taking one or more drugs that can have adverse effects. When prescribing anticholinergic medication for the elderly, we must choose the right drug. We aimed to discover the level of understanding on this subject and its application to real clinical practice amongst our healthcare professionals (HCPs).MethodsAn 18-point questionnaire was distributed to urogynaecologists, general gynaecologists, urologists, geriatricians, general practitioners (GPs), and nurse specialists to assess knowledge on the subject.ResultsA total of 96 HCPs completed the questionnaire. The nurse specialists had the highest score in identifying that oxybutynin was the drug most likely to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB). The urogynaecologists had the highest score in identifying that trospium chloride was least likely to cross the BBB, whereas the GPs had the lowest score. Solifenacin was the most popular anticholinergic drug prescribed in the elderly without dementia. Trospium chloride was the most popular drug prescribed in the elderly with dementia.ConclusionsWe have found that knowledge is lacking amongst all our HCPs, but especially amongst our first-line doctors, our GPs. Education is key in developing knowledge and safe prescribing, to improve the care we give to our patients.

Narrated video demonstrating the procedure of videourodynamics

To present a narrated video designed to demonstrate the steps involved in the procedure of videourodynamics.

Personal goals and expectations of OAB patients in the UK

In clinical practice and in research patient‐centred outcomes are often utilised to help improve communication between patients and clinicians and to help manage expectations from treatment. However, many of these goals are generic and do not adequately capture the details of day to day life that bother patients the most and that they hope will improve with therapy. This study aimed to understand what are the goals of patients with overactive bladder symptoms in the UK who were taking part in a clinical trial and to assess goal achievement.

Assessment of the impact of urogenital prolapse on sexual dysfunction

Sexual dysfunction is one of the symptoms that motivates women to seek medical help in the management of urogenital prolapse. Conservative or surgical interventions may be offered to treat the prolapse but the question remains as to whether treatment restores sexual function (SF). This article briefly discusses the assessment of SF in women with a urogenital prolapse and reviews the effect of therapeutic interventions on SF.

Ambulatory urodynamics monitoring - a video demonstration

To present a narrated video designed to demonstrate the steps involved in performing and interpreting ambulatory urodynamics monitoring (AUM).