Do urodynamics predict urinary retention after sling placement in the complex patient: the value of reproducing...

To examine urinary retention (UR) after female urethral sling placement in patients with or without detrusor underactivity (DU) or Valsalva voiding whose urodynamics (UDS) accurately reproduced voiding symptoms to determine whether the reproduction of voiding symptoms on UDS in those with DU is predictive of UR after sling placement.

We performed a review of patients undergoing urethral sling procedures for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) looking specifically at the occurrence of short- and long-term urinary retention. Preoperative UDS data were obtained from a prospectively acquired UDS database in which patients were directly queried at the time of the UDS study about whether the filling and/or storage phase of the study reproduced their usual symptoms.

Of the 141 women who had a urethral sling procedure, 124 (87.9%) had preoperative UDS. Of those who had UDS, 41 (33%) had de novo UR at some point postoperatively. Compared to those without DU, patients with DU and/or Valsalva voiding were more likely to have UR (75.6% vs. 56.6%, p = 0.04). There was no difference in association of UR in patients with DU/Valsalva voiding whose UDS reproduced voiding symptoms compared to those with DU/Valsalva voiding whose UDS did not reproduce symptoms (OR 1.01, CI 0.32-3.19, p 0.98).

This study found that patients with DU/Valsalva voiding had an increased association with UR but did not find reproduction of symptoms on UDS to correlate with UR in either those with DU/Valsalva voiding or with normal bladder contractility.