The 7-year outcome of the tension-free vaginal tape procedure for treating female stress urinary incontinence.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the long-term results and predictive risk factors for efficacy after the tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure for treating female stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Inall, 306 women (mean age 50.7 years, sd 8.7) who had a TVT procedure for SUI were selected and followed >or=7 years (mean 92.3 months, range 84-110) after surgery. We analysed the long-term results, the variables predictive of cure rates, and patient satisfaction.

RESULTS

The overall 7-year cure rate was 84.6%, with a satisfaction rate of 69.3%. The cure rates were lower in patients with high-grade SUI (50% in grade III, 82.8% in grade II and 90.7% in grade I; P < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, there were no independent risk factors related to cure rate, and urgency was the only factor independently associated with patient satisfaction (P = 0.008; odds ratio 2.47). Seventy-one patients (23.2%) had complications at the 1-month follow-up after surgery, but only eight (2.6%) had complications at the 7-year follow-up, including mesh exposure in six and de novo urgency in two.

CONCLUSION

The absence of long-term adverse events associated with the TVT procedure, and high subjective and objective 7-year success rates with no independent predictive factors affecting the long-term cure rate, make the TVT procedure a recommendable surgical treatment for female SUI.