Physiotherapeutic assessment of the Muscular Strength of the Pelvic Floor in Women with Urinary Incontinence after Wertheim-Meigs' Surgery: a Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction: women suffering from cervical cancer in stages Ia, Ib, and IIa, and primary cervical adenocarcinoma are subjected to radical hysterectomy of Wertheim-Meigs that may evolve with some adverse events, including effort urinary incontinence (UI) due to weakness of the muscles of the pelvic floor. The assessment of the pelvic floor muscle strength has a decisive role in the physiotherapy treatment of UI. Objective: to describe the physical methods that can be used to evaluate the muscular strength of the pelvic floor in women with UI after the Wertheim- Meigs' surgery. Method: this article is a literature review, which searched for studies published in the databases of Medline, Pubmed, Scielo, Lilacs, and Bireme in the period of 1996 to 2007, in English and Portuguese. Conclusion: ased on this review, it appears that the method of functional assessment, is efficient and easy to apply and, therefore it is the most widely method used in physical therapy assessments in clinical practice.