Slings may not fail as frequently as believed for stress urinary incontinence: the misinterpretation of postoperative...

: Sling operations may obstruct the urethra, promoting voiding dysfunction and secondary urine leakage that are incorrectly attributed to surgical failure.

: We prospectively evaluated the evolution of urinary symptoms in the postoperative follow-up of 108 polypropylene sling cases. Patients presented for follow-up at 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, and 48 months for review of individual urinary symptoms. Statistical analysis used Fisher exact test.

: On the 30th postoperative day, 100% of the cases were cured of stress urinary incontinence, although frequency (62.9%), urgency (29.6%), urge-incontinence (23.1%), nocturia (28.6%), incomplete voiding sensation (11.1%), and poor stream (11.1%) persisted. At 3 months, 16.6% reported frequency, 38% complained of urgency, and 29.6% were troubled by nocturia. True urinary leakage under stress was resolved in 100% of cases by the first visit and did not show any further decrease when specifically questioned. Pad usage decreased after 3 months but did not completely disappear after 48 months. A total of 94.4% of the cases achieved total continence and clinical satisfaction after 4 years of follow-up, in parallel with the steady disappearance of voiding dysfunction observed in the early postoperative period.

: Voiding dysfunction after sling procedures is frequent but transitory. As symptoms improve or disappear, patients tend to miss their follow-up. In this study, 94.4% of the cases had complete dryness and satisfaction with the operation.