Abstract :
The most frequent type of urine incontinence is stress urinary incontinence (SUI), which affects from 4%-14% of younger women and 12%-35% percent of older women. Management of SUI ranges and can be tailored to patient’s need. The use of radiofrequency is one of the current studies being investigated as a minimally invasive treatment for SUI. Radiofrequency is an electromagnetic energy that capable to remodel and produce immediate structural alteration with tissue in contact. The tissue action is confined and does not extend to the underlying viscera. The goal is to activate subsequent fibroblast and retract collagen. Later it induces ingrowth granulation tissue and this in turn is replaced by predominant fibroblastic response. In the end, continued healing response will result in mature fibrosis and complete resolution of inflammation process. The hypothesis is that radiofrequency treatment can reduce urinary loss in a safe manner and improve quality of life. Systematic search of literatures was conducted in May 2021 using several article databases such as Medline/PubMed, Scopus and ProQuest. The keywords used in for searching these databases were “stress urinary incontinence”, “radiofrequency”. A total of 38 studies were reviewed after duplication removal, but only 12 studies contained available and relevant for analysis. Six studies evaluated transvaginal approach, five studies evaluated transurethral approach and one study evaluated laparoscopic approach. The best reported improvement from transurethral approach in radiofrequency demonstrated in 76% of treated patients showed decrease in daily incontinence episodes with 35% became fully continent. Transvaginal approaches reported mixed results with 3 studies reported improvement of symptoms and quality of life, however other studies suggested its low effectiveness. There is still lack evaluation in comparing radiofrequency treatment with other available treatment of SUI. Transurethral is promising modality in radiofrequency treatment in SUI. All the studies that used transurethral approach in this review was proven to increase participants quality of life and able to reduce episode of incontinence. This review highlights the need of more evidence and future randomized controlled trial in comparing it with other available treatments.
