Anterior urethropexy according to Lapides in stress urinary incontinence. A follow-up study

Thirty-five women with a mean age of 53 years were investigated for an average of 3 1/2 years after anterior urethropexy according to Lapides (1961). The material was divided into two groups: 23 patients with a history of pure stress urinary incontinence and 12 patients with a mixed stress and urgency incontinence. In the former group, the cure rate was nearly 100%; one patient had a remaining nonembarrassing slight stress incontinence, which could not be classified as pathologic. Another patient had a recurrence 2 years postoperatively at which time she fractured her pelvis in an accident. In the latter group, only 4 patients were cured while another 3 patients improved considerably. The operative procedure did not cause residual urine, since the urethra cannot be compressed as in other retropubic operations. The risk of recurrence is minimized, since continence is not dependent upon non-relaxation of other structures, but upon scar-fixation between the urethra and the periosteum of the pubic bone.