Progress You Can See!

Breaking the Ice

Most people know Bonnie Blair as the most decorated winter athlete in U.S. history, winner of five gold medals in speed skating in the 1992, 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympic Games. But Bonnie, a mother of two, also suffered from a very common but often embarrassing and debilitating health issue, stress urinary incontinence (SUI), which kept her from enjoying time with her children and exercise. A treatment using minimally invasive surgical technology let her reclaim the activities she loved.

After the birth of her first child at age 34, Bonnie was eager to return to her morning exercise routine, especially her daily runs. However, like many new mothers, she had no idea that pregnancy could bring about a potentially embarrassing condition: the leaking of urine during day-to-day activities. When Bonnie set out on her first run, her shorts were soaked within a block of her house.

**Urinary Incontinence: A Costly Problem Affecting Millions**
Number of Americans affected	13 million (85% women)¹
Cost of urinary incontinence in persons 65 or older in the United States	$27.8 billion (1995)² Increase of 164% from 1984 92% of costs are related to incontinence complications
Annual direct cost per patient of SUI in the United States	$5,642 (1998 dollars)³
Annual indirect cost per patient of SUI in the United States	$4,208 (1998 dollars)³

In addition to the high cost of incontinence for patients and our healthcare system, the condition is associated with a significant decline in health-related quality of life.

Bonnie tried different treatments including Kegel exercises, weights and electrical stimulation to strengthen her pelvic muscles, but nothing worked. After the birth of her second child and a consultation with her doctor, she decided to undergo a minimally invasive procedure to treat her SUI that uses a “sling” made of a special synthetic mesh tape to hold up the urethra. This procedure takes about 30 minutes, is performed under local or general anesthesia and can be done in either hospital outpatient or ambulatory surgery center setting. Bonnie returned home and was back to her normal activities within days. She was a candidate for this procedure because she was finished having children.

Beating SUI with Medical Technology

More than one million women have undergone sling procedures worldwide. More than 80 percent were completely dry and 16.3 percent were significantly improved after the procedure.¹ Bonnie said, “I’ve been symptom-free ever since the surgery. It’s definitely put a smile back on my face.”

Before sling procedures, women usually had to undergo invasive surgery under general anesthesia, called open colposuspension, to relieve them from SUI. Slings have been proven cost-effective and life-improving in studies. Patient satisfaction two years after both sling procedures and colposuspension is high. However, colposuspension patients had significantly higher rates of self-catheterization six months after the procedure, meaning patients required a self-inserted tube to remove urine from the body. The study also confirms that sling procedure patients have shorter hospital stays and a faster return to normal activities.⁴

Bonnie has resumed her morning runs, and one of her favorite activities is jumping on the backyard trampoline with her two children. “My life was limited by SUI. Since the sling procedure I’m back to my normal self,” she said.

GYNECARE. “Learn more about stress urinary incontinence.” http://www.beatsui.com/about.htm (28 April 2006).

Wagner TH, Hu TW. “Economic Costs of Urinary Incontinence in 1995.” Urology 51(3) (1998):355-361.

Birnbaum HG, Leong SA, Oster EF, et al. “Cost of stress urinary incontinence: a claims data analysis.” Pharmacoeconomics 22(2) (2004):95-105.

Ward KL, Hilton P. “Aprospective multicenter randomized trial of tension-free vaginal tape and colposuspension for primary urodynamic stress incontinence: two-year follow-up.” Am J of Obstetrics and Gynecology 190(2) (2004):324-31.