Comparison of three different surgical procedures for genuine stress incontinence: prospective randomized study

One hundred seven consecutive patients with clinical and urodynamic findings of genuine stress incontinence not previously treated were prospectively allocated in a randomized manner to one of three surgical procedures: anterior colporrhaphy, revised Pereyra procedure, or Burch retropubic urethropexy. Randomization included the surgical procedure and choice of surgeon (one of the three authors). Clinical and urodynamic evaluations were repeated at 3 months and 1 year after surgery. Differences in cure rates among the three procedures at the 3-month postoperative evaluation were insignificant (82%, 84%, and 92% for the anterior colporrhaphy, Pereyra, and Burch respectively) but became statistically significant at the 1 year postoperative evaluation (cure rates of 65%, 72%, and 91% for the anterior colporrhaphy, Pereyra, and Burch respectively, p less than 0.05). In our hands the Burch procedure stabilized the urethrovesical junction and prevented its descent during straining (evaluated by a postoperative Q-tip test) more effectively than either the Pereyra or anterior colporrhaphy. No procedure resulted in severe postoperative voiding difficulties. The present prospective randomized study demonstrates that in our hands the abdominal retropubic operation for genuine stress incontinence in patients not previously operated on results in a higher cure rate when compared with anterior colporrhaphy or Pereyra procedure.