Tension Free Vaginal Tape Procedure for the Treatment of Stress Urinary Incontinence: Early Result

Lee, Min Ho; Kim, Hong Sik; Choo, Myung Soo

Abstract

PURPOSE: The tension free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure was reported as a new treatment option for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in female. We report our early result of TVT procedure for the surgical treatment of SUI.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Of 110 consecutive women with SUI who underwent the TVT procedure between March 1999 and May 2000, 89 patients followed up more than six months were included in this study. The procedure was carried out in accordance with the established method under local anesthesia with sedation.
RESULTS
Mean age was 55.1 years (37-79). Mean follow-up was 11.2 months (6.1-20.3). Mean hospital stay was 1.1 day (0-8) and mean operation time was 34.6 minutes (15-70). Mean duration of post operative indwelling catheter was 8.1 hours (0-24). Subjectively, 76 (88.8%) of the patients were cured and 7 (7.8%) significantly improved. The cure rate among patients with a maximal urethral closure pressure (MUCP) lower than 40cmH2O was 75.7%, while that of patients with a MUCP higher than 40cmH2O was 98.1% (p<0.001). Complications were immediate postoperative urinary retention in 14 patients (15.7%), bladder perforation in 6 (6.7%) and wound infection in 1 (1.1%). In 4 patients (4.4%), de novo urgency incontinence was documented.
CONCLUSIONS
The TVT procedure is safe, simple and effective for the treatment of SUI in terms of short hospital stay, short operation time, high sucess rate and low complication rate. But it might be prudentially applied to the patients with very low urethral closure pressure.