[Cystocele repair with a polypropylene mesh: our experience]

To evaluate the efficacy of the polypropilene mesh shaped in a T, with a circular area (to repair the cystocele) and an anterior extension (to function as a tension free sling), for the combined treatment of cystocele and urinary incontinence.

Retrospective study including 31 female patients with cystocele, with or without urinary incontinence, undergoing mesh repair. Mean age was 62.3 yr. (range 55-72). All patients were multiparous. Number of childbirths varied between 1 and 4. Mean follow-up was 23.5 months (range 12 to 29 months). 80% had grade III cystocele and 20% grade IV. 28 patients (90.3%) presented with urinary incontinence and 3 (9.67%) urgency without incontinence. 16 patients had previously undergone hysterectomy and another 6 surgery for urinary incontinence (2 Raz and 4 Burch operations). 11 patients (33.6%) needed a combination technique in the same operation: associated vaginal hysterectomy in 4 patients and posterior mesh colporrhaphy for grade III symptomatic rectocele in 7 patients.

No patient had prolapse recurrence, 1 patient needed clean intermittent catheterizations for 3 months, and 3 suffered de novo urgency (with good response to anticolinergic drugs). The worsening of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in one patient was solved by suburethral sling insertion; another patient who had prolonged postoperative vaginal bleeding requiring blood transfusions and subsequent mesh erosion of the vaginal wall (she underwent re-operation to cut off the mesh). 3 patients complained of intercourse discomfort which disappeared after an average of 3 months. No other remarkable intra or postoperative complications appeared.

The polypropilene mesh associated with a sling is an effective treatment to repair cystocele with or without SUI, although long-term studies with a greater number of patients are required to validate the technique.