Publication:

Transobturator mid urethral sling surgery for stress urinary incontinence: our experience

Background We retrospectively evaluated the cure & improvement rate and complications incidence following transobturator approach of mid urethral sling surgery (MUS) for stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

Methods Of the total 52 patients who underwent transobturator approach of midurethral sling surgery for stress urinary incontinence at Dr. Ramesh Hospital, Bangalore, India, between January 2006 – December 2009, 48 women were available for clinical follow-up investigation. At follow-up, all 48 patients underwent a cough test, a pad test, and sonographic postvoid residual volume measurement. Women rated their subjective continence status (continent, slightly incontinent, incontinent). Objective cure was defined as a pad weight 0–1 g and a negative cough test.

Results The minimum and median follow-up was 12 months & 24 months respectively. Subjectively, 93.75 % of the patients rated themselves as continent, 2.08% as slightly incontinent, and 4.16 % as severely incontinent. The objective cure rate was 93.75%. The surgery failed in 3 patients (6.25%). 2 patients (4.16%) underwent repeat surgery. There was one case (2.08%) of vaginal erosion of mesh which required excision of the exposed part and one case (2.08%) of urinary retention requiring incision of the mesh at the center.

Conclusions Transobturator approach of mid urethral sling surgery is a safe, effective and minimally invasive procedure for SUI with a very low rate of complications.