Résumé
PURPOSE: Due to their high success rate, sling operations have recently been widely performed for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) associated with intrinsic sphincter deficiency (ISD) and urethral hypermobility. Despite the encouraging short-term results of the sling surgery using anterior vaginal wall, the long-term results have been shown not to be as good as those in short-term studies. This study was designed to investigate the long term results of a Raz's anterior vaginal wall sling (AVWS), and to determine factors contributing to patients' satisfaction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An outcome-based study was conducted on 77 patients who had undergone an AVWS performed by the same surgeon. Patients were preoperatively evaluated for their history, by physical examination, standardized symptom questionnaires and urodynamic studies. Patients with a follow-up of at least 1-year were assessed by the parameters of voiding symptoms and subjective satisfaction from the postoperative questionnaires. RESULTS: Of the 62 patients (81%) available for long term follow-up, 43 (69.4%) were currently satisfied with the urinary status, 35 (56.5%) were dry all the time, 12 (19.4%) were occasionally wet, but the severity had improved, 15 (24.1%) had not improved or had worsened. A review of the charts of the 15 failures revealed all of them were postoperatively urgent. Late complications occurred in 4 patients; 1 had recurrent cystocele and 3 had dyspareunia. De novo urge incontinence occurred in 5 patients. CONCLUSIONS: The stress incontinence was cured, or improved, in 75.8% of the patients after a follow-up of at least 1-year. The satisfaction of patients was closely associated with the presence, or resolution, of postoperative urgency or urge incontinence.