Single Incision Sling Surgery for Female Stress Urinary Incontinence: A Retrospective Cohort Single-Institution Study

Background: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) affects around 35% of adult women and has a significant impact on quality of life. A single incision sling (SIS), such as Altis®, was introduced to improve original slings and avoid complications. The present study aimed to evaluate the SIS Altis® subjective and objective cure rates of women with SUI, mixed urinary incontinence (MUI), recurrent SUI, and SUI with concomitant prolapse and report its complications from one single medical center. Methodology: A retrospective cohort, unsponsored study was conducted at the Jordan University Hospital. All women patients were treated with the SIS Altis® procedure, and prolapse procedures were also completed as necessary. The chi square analysis for the cure rates was conducted between the subgroups. Results: From June 2016 to June 2019, 111 women patients with a mean age of 48.0 ± 11.3 years underwent a SIS Altis® procedure. The overall outcome resulted in 81% and 85% of patients being subjectively and objectively cured. The subjectively cured MUI patients were significantly fewer than SUI patients (70% versus 86%, p < 0.05), and patients with recurrent SUI had significantly lower rates (56% for subjective and objective cure rates; p < 0.01 and 0.001). Of the 44 patients who underwent SIS Altis® and concomitant vaginal repair surgery, no significant differences in subjective and objective cure rates were observed. Only 2.7% of women had mild pain, 2.7% had vaginal tape erosion, and 9% had to be re-operated on. Conclusions: The Altis® procedure is effective in women who suffer from SUI for a 19-month follow-up period. However, recurrent SUI patients had lower subjective and objective cure rates than primary SUI patients. Further research is needed with a larger sample size in a prospective study design to determine the effectiveness of single SIS in patients with recurrent SUI.