JEDDAH, 5 January — More than 100 doctors from various countries attended the Second International Urogynecology Symposium and Workshop held at Prince Salman Hospital in Riyadh.
"This was a wonderful opportunity for gynecologists and urologists from all over the world to come together and discuss the latest medical developments in their fields," said Dr. Hisham Arab, secretary-general of the Saudi Obstetric and Gynecological Society which organized the event described as a huge success.
Hamad Al-Manei, head of Health Affairs Directorate in Riyadh, formally opened the two-day event. Dr. Masoumah Rezapour, associate professor and head of the urogynecology unit at Uppsala University in Sweden, and Dr. Robert Freeman, head of the urogynecology unit at Plymouth NHS Trust in the United Kingdom, spoke. The two-day workshop sponsored by Gynecare, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson Middle East and a solution provider for female incontinence, touched on a number of issues including the reasons for incontinence, surgery for urinary incontinence and the effect of childbirth on pelvic floor muscles. A live demonstration on TVT, the medically advanced surgical solution for urinary stress incontinence, was also held.
"The TVT procedure is considered a breakthrough solution for urinary stress incontinence; it could be performed under local or epidural anesthesia and the patient can be in the comfort of her home within 24-48 hours," said Dr. Rezapour. Over 120,000 TVT procedures have been performed so far with a high success rate of 94 percent.
Two main diseases that affect women after menopause are genuine stress incontinence and overactive bladder, but the former is the most common of the two, according to Dr. Freeman.
Gynecare, the main sponsor of the event, in cooperation with several prominent physicians in the Kingdom, has launched a nationwide awareness campaign to address women's health problems. Visits to educational facilities and women's institutions are organized as part of the drive.
