PURPOSE: Females with recurrent stress urinary incontinence after anti-incontinence surgery represent a therapeutic challenge. In our experience and that of others standard sling procedures have occasionally failed to correct these problems. We determined the effectiveness of various spiral sling techniques used in these cases to manage pipe stem urethras in which conventional slings had failed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between January 2007 and July 2008 we evaluated 30 female patients with persistent stress urinary incontinence after multiple failed anti-incontinence procedures. Preoperative and postoperative evaluation consisted of history, physical examination, number of pads, Stamey score and quality of life questionnaires. RESULTS: We followed 28 patients a minimum of 15 months (range 15 to 18). Mean patient age was 60 years (range 36 to 84). At presentation patients had undergone a mean of 3.5 prior vaginal procedures (range 1 to 6) and used a mean of 7 pads daily (range 3 to 12). Of the patients 21 received a synthetic spiral sling, 5 received an autologous spiral sling (rectus fascia in 3 and fascia lata in 2) and 3 received a lateral spiral sling. Mean pad use decreased to 0.9 daily (range 0 to 2, p<0.05). Postoperative mean Stamey score decreased from 2.6 to 0.3 (p<0.05). Complications included unilateral vesical perforation in 3 patients with a contralateral lateral spiral sling. The overall success rate was 72%. CONCLUSIONS: Salvage spiral sling techniques are a satisfactory alternative treatment for refractory stress urinary incontinence. When synthetic material cannot be used, autologous tissue can provide similar results. When the bladder is perforated unilaterally, a lateral spiral sling can be used on the contralateral side.
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