Rectus fascial wrap: early results of a modification of the rectus fascial sling.

We describe an operation that increases bladder neck resistance in patients with urinary incontinence. It is a modification of the rectus fascial sling that was designed as an adjunct to augmentation cystoplasty and is used in association with clean intermittent catheterization. The operation is performed by circumferentially wrapping a rectus fascial defatted free graft around the bladder neck and suturing it to appose the bladder neck. The procedure was done in 17 patients, including 10 with myelodysplasia, 3 with sacral lipoma, 3 with bladder exstrophy and 1 with nonneurogenic neurogenic bladder. Leak point pressure improved in patients in whom it was measured preoperatively and postoperatively. Complications developed in 5 patients, including difficulty with catheterization in 2, ventral hernia at the graft harvest site in 1, bladder calculus in 1 and detrusor hyperreflexia in 1. Early results with the bladder fascial wrap indicate that it has the ability to improve continence in patients with a dysfunctional bladder neck who have undergone augmentation.