Results of the tension-free vaginal tape procedure for treatment of female stress urinary incontinence: a 5-year follow-up study.

Objective: We evaluated the long-term cure rates, surgical complications rates after treatment of urodynamically confirmed primary genuine stress incontinence with tension-free vaginal tape (TVT).

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all patients undergoing the TVT procedure over a 5-year period to report intraoperative complication, postoperative complications and subjective cure rates.

Results: TVT was performed on 600 patients under general anesthesia. Among these patients, 563 were followed up for least 5 years; the remaining 47 patients could not be followed up. The mean follow-up interval was 63.1+/-3.1 (range 60-70) months. The mean age of the women was 51.7+/-11.6 years and mean body mass index 31.7+/-3.0 kg/m(2). Sixty-two percent (347) of women underwent the TVT procedure in conjunction with other vaginal surgery, and 38% (216) underwent TVT alone. The subjective analysis of the effect of surgery on the symptom of GSI was that, overall, 86.7% were completely cured, 6.0% were significantly improved and 7.3% found no change in the severity of her incontinence. No major nerve or vessel injury occurred, but 17 patients (3.0%) incurred bladder injury during the surgery. De novo voiding urgency occurred in 36 patients (6.4%). Thirty patients (5.3%) developed voiding problem, of which 19 patients had short-term voiding problem.

Conclusion: The TVT procedure is a relatively safe and effective, minimally invasive surgical technique for the treatment of female urinary stress incontinence.