Sling offers lasting benefit for stress urinary incontinence

(HealthDay)—Stress urinary incontinence treatment with a distal urethral polypropylene sling procedure is associated with excellent long-term efficacy and durability, according to research published in the November issue of The Journal of Urology.

Lisa Rogo-Gupta, M.D., of the Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California in Los Angeles, and colleagues conducted a prospective study involving 69 consecutive patients who underwent a distal urethral polypropylene sling procedure for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. Long-term follow-up data at a minimum of 11 years were available for 30 patients (mean age at follow-up, 73 years).

Of the patients lost to follow-up, 10 were deceased and five were cognitively impaired. At follow-up, the researchers found that 48 percent of patients reported no symptoms of stress urinary incontinence and 63 percent reported not being bothered by stress urinary incontinence. Overall, symptoms improved an average of 64 percent at 11 years, compared with 81 percent at five years. Based on symptom scores, 82 percent of patients were rated as successes, while 80 percent were rated as successes based on bother scores.

"The distal urethral polypropylene sling procedure has excellent long-term durability in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence, in addition to low morbidity and low cost as previously described," the authors write. "When choosing an anti-incontinence procedure, durability should be considered in light of patient age given that the theoretical advantages of long-term durability are limited by cognitive decline and mortality."

One author disclosed financial ties to Astellas and Allergan.

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