Intravaginal slingplasty sling is associated with increased risk of vaginal erosion.

OBJECTIVE

Two structurally different polypropylene tapes are used in tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) and intravaginal slingplasty sling (IVS) procedures for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence. This study aimed to compare TVT and IVS operations for late postoperative complications, especially vaginal erosion.

DESIGN

A retrospective study.

SETTING

Oulu University Hospital, Finland.

SAMPLE: The study sample was constituted by 373 patients operatively treated for female urinary incontinence between January 2000 and June 2004. A total of 293 patients underwent the TVT operation and 80 patients the IVS operation.

METHODS

We analyzed the data using Fisher's Exact test, Pearson's chi-squared test, and log linear test. For categorical variables we used risk ratios with 95% confidence intervals.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The incidence of late complications, especially vaginal erosion.

RESULTS

Symptomatic erosion (p < 0.001; risk ratio 13.7; 95% confidence interval 4.03-46.8) was seen in 3 patients (1%) in the TVT group and in 13 patients (16%) in the IVS group. The median time to the onset of symptoms was 9 and 12 months in these groups, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

We suggest that the high vaginal erosion rate in the IVS group is associated with the tape material.