Burch colposuspension: a 10-20 year follow up.

OBJECTIVE

To review the outcome of women who underwent Burch colposuspension 10 to 20 years ago and to assess factors which affect long term success.

DESIGN

Longitudinal retrospective study.

SETTING

Urogynaecology Unit, St George's Hospital, London.

SUBJECTS

One hundred and nine women with genuine stress incontinence.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Survival analysis of subjective and objective cure of stress incontinence.

RESULTS

Cure of incontinence following Burch colposuspension is time-dependent, with a decline for 10 to 12 years when a plateau of 69% is reached. Factors adversely affecting cure are previous bladder neck surgery (logrank test P = 0.02), pre-operative weight greater than 80 kg, intra-operative blood loss more than 1000 ml and the development of post-operative detrusor instability. Post-operative complications included de novo detrusor instability (14.7%), long term complaints of voiding difficulty with objective recovery at the final follow up (22%) and recurrent urinary tract infection (4.6%).

CONCLUSIONS

Long term follow up after colposuspension is necessary to assess sequelae. We suggest that new continence procedures should be followed up for 5 to 10 years.