Effectiveness of pelvic floor exercises in the perioperative period of radical prostatectomy: a literature review

Objective: To review the literature on the effectiveness of pelvic floor exercises in the perioperative period of radical prostatectomy. Methods: By using the health descriptors (DeCS) tw (prostatectomy) AND (physiotherapy) AND (pelvic floor) AND (urinary incontinence), articles were selected in English, Spanish and Portuguese, regardless of the year of publication. After searching in the BVS database, 26 studies were found: 17 in MEDLINE, 5 in IBECS, 2 in LILACS, and 2 in CENTRAL. Of this total, 17 were excluded because they did not meet the study inclusion criteria, culminating in a total of 9 articles, which were analyzed in this study. Results: Pelvic floor muscle strengthening exercises in the prostatectomy perioperative period have important results in terms of minimizing urinary incontinence, considering the strong impact of the problem on the patients’ quality of life. Conclusion: Scientific evidence points out, despite the heterogeneity of techniques and samples, that the perioperative exercises show promising results in reducing postoperative urinary incontinence, mainly speeding recovery and healing or reducing the symptoms.