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Published on: August 17, 2022
Success of Concomitant Versus Interval Slings for Prevention and Treatment of Bothersome de Novo Stress Urinary
Jocelyn J Fitzgerald1, Alex Soriano2, Joseph Panza3
1From the Department Obstetrics and Gynecology, Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington, DC.
Background:
Despite large trials designed to guide management on whether to perform a prophylactic continence procedure at the time of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair, it remains unclear if a staged or interval approach confers advantages in treatment of bothersome stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women without bothersome SUI before their POP repair.
Objective:
The objective of this study was to compare success of concomitant versus interval slings for the prevention/treatment of de novo bothersome SUI after POP repair.
Study Design:
This multicenter retrospective cohort with prospective follow-up enrolled women with minimal or no SUI symptoms who underwent minimally invasive apical surgery for stage 2 or higher POP between 2011 and 2018 and had a concomitant sling placed at the time of POP surgery or an interval sling placed. Prospectively, all patients were administered the Urogenital Distress Inventory Short-Form 6, the Patient Global Impression of Improvement, and questions on reoperation/retreatment and complications.
Results:
A total of 120 patients had concomitant slings, and 60 had interval slings. There were no differences in the proportion of patients who had intrinsic sphincter deficiency (22% vs 20%), although the concomitant sling group was more likely to have a positive cough stress test result (30% vs 8%, P = 0.006). The interval sling group was more likely to report "yes" to SUI symptoms on Urogenital Distress Inventory Short-Form 6 (3% vs 30%, P = 0.0006) and during their postoperative visit (0% vs 24%, P < 0.0001). There were no differences in surgical complications.
Conclusions:
Among women with minimal or no SUI symptoms undergoing prolapse repair, concomitant slings resulted in lower rates of bothersome SUI compared with similar women undergoing interval sling placement.

