Laparoscopic procedures for incontinence and prolapse.

Laparoscopic surgery for genuine stress incontinence (GSI) and vaginal vault prolapse is in an early stage of development. There is a great deal of talk about the subject at meetings and postgraduate courses; however, very little has been written on the subject and there are virtually no controlled studies to compare outcomes with the conventional surgical methods that will be mentioned in this review. Most laparoscopic surgeons will emphasize that laparoscopic repairs are performed either 'exactly like' or in a similar fashion to open abdominal techniques, but there is still a need for data to prove that outcomes are equivalent.