Each year IUGA awards two 10,000 USD research grants – one for a laboratory-based/basic science project, and one for a clinical/patient-centered project. We are pleased to announce this year’s recipients:

 May Alarab (Canada) is receiving the research award in the basic science category for her project titled: The Effect of Local Estrogen Therapy on the Microbiome Composition and Relative Abundance in the Urine of Postmenopausal Women with/without Urinary Tract Infections.

 Rachel High (USA) is receiving the research award in the clinical research category for her project titled: Higher Neural and Cognitive Changes Following Anticholinergic versus Beta 3 Agonist versus Placebo Treatments in Patients with Overactive Bladder: A Multicenter Randomized Control Pilot Trial.

 IUGA Research Grant recipients are required to submit an abstract of their completed research study for presentation at the IUGA Annual Meeting and to submit a completed manuscript for publication to the International Urogynecology Journal. We look forward to seeing the outcomes from these two studies and congratulate Drs. Alarab and High.

For more information about IUGA Research Grants, click here.

The full AIUM/IUGA practice parameter for the performance of Urogynecological ultrasound examinations is temporarily open to everyone! No subscription needed!

From now through August 3, 2019, you don't need to have a subscription to read the entire article. Don't miss out on this important information. Click here to check it out!

The June issue of the International Urogynecology Journal is now available! Don't miss out on the latest news and research in the international field of urogynecology!

Click here to find out more about the journal.

If you are a member of IUGA, click here to access the journal.

If you are not a member of IUGA, click here to join!

Catch up on the latest news from IUGA and the field of Urogynecology with the latest issue of the IUGA Newsletter. You can easily jump to an article of interest by clicking on the article title in the Table of Contents on page 2 online, or flip through it like an online magazine at issuu.com.

In this issue:

Letter from the President

Committee Spotlight

• Membership Committee
• Public Relations Committee

2019 AUGS/IUGA Scientific Meeting

Expert Opinion

• Is It Time We Revisited Decision Making at the Time of Delivery?

Video Spotlight

• Fascial Slings

Special Interest Groups

IUJ Corner

• Social Media and the IUJ

Developing Countries

• FIUGA
• Fistula Foundation

Upcoming Events

The May issue of the International Urogynecology Journal is now available! Don't miss out on the latest news and research in the international field of urogynecology!

Click here to find out more about the journal.

If you are a member of IUGA, click here to access the journal.

If you are not a member of IUGA, click here to join!

Mark your calendar to join us June 12 at 7:00pm UTC for the live broadcast of the IUGA Webinar: Making the Transition From Trainee to Early Career Professional. Hosted by Debjyoti Karmakar with special guests Wenche Klerkx from the Netherlands and Gans Thiagamoorthy from the UK, the webinar will focus on helping trainees make the transition to independent consultants by focusing on strategies to cope with the fear of working independently and unique challenges that a consultant faces (as compared to being a trainee).

Dial in instructions will be available one week prior to the webinar. Can't join us for the live broadcast? No worries, the recording of the webinar will be available on the IUGA Academy!

We invite you to submit questions to be addressed during the webinar to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject "Question for the webinar".

We are now requesting intents-to-bid for the IUGA Annual Meeting in 2023 which will take place in Europe. The intent-to-bid must be submitted in electronic form before/on May 25, 2019 to David Casalod, Executive Director at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with a copy to Vivian Gies, Meeting Director at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

For more information, click here.

The third version of the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) guideline on the management of urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse in women was released on 2 April 2019.

It includes pelvic organ prolapse for the first time, as the earlier two versions (2006 and 2013) only covered urinary incontinence. It advocates conservative measures before offering surgery and outlines local as well as regional multidisciplinary team meetings (MDT) for simple and complex cases. The guideline specifies national database documentation of surgery, including safety and effectiveness, and notification of mesh complications and also outlines the need for specialized centers for the assessment and management of mesh related complications.  

The guideline includes retropubic bottom up mid-urethral tape as an option for surgical management for stress incontinence of urine after colposuspension, autologous sling, and urethral bulking agents. The guideline included vaginal mesh for recurrent anterior compartment prolapse in women with adequate vault support in whom an abdominal approach is contra-indicated after proper counseling and discussion at a regional multidisciplinary team meeting (MDT). The guideline does not advocate prophylactic continence procedures at the time of prolapse surgery. While the guideline does not discourage performing continence procedures alongside surgery for anterior and apical compartment prolapse for patients with concomitant urodynamic stress incontinence of urine, it recommends adequate patient counseling about the uncertain benefit and potential for complications.

Read the Full Guideline