Mersilene mesh sling: Short- and long-term clinical and urodynamic outcomes ☆

Abstract Objective: We sought to determine the long-term efficacy, safety, and urodynamic effects of the Mersilene mesh suburethral sling in treating complicated forms of genuine stress incontinence. Study Design: Two hundred women diagnosed with genuine stress incontinence, complicated by recurrence, intrinsic sphincter deficiency, or chronically increased intraabdominal pressure underwent a suburethral mesh sling procedure (Mersilene; Ethicon Inc, Somerville, NJ). They were monitored with yearly clinical examinations plus short- and long-term postoperative urodynamic evaluations; statistical analysis was carried out by use of the Friedman 2-way analysis by rank, Fischer-Freeman-Halton exact testing, analysis of variance for repeated measures, Wilcoxon, exact Mann-Whitney U test, and Bonferroni paired t test. Of 176 patients who were 5 months or more postop, 127 (72%) had preoperative and short-term postoperative urodynamic evaluations (range 5 to 23 months, mean 12.6 months). Fifty-two of 117 women who were more than 19 months postop (44%) completed preoperative and long-term postoperative urodynamic evaluations at a mean of 63 months (range 20 to 107). One hundred thirty-six of 176 patients (77%) who were more than 4 months postop had a short- and/or long- term postoperative urodynamic evaluation (range 5 to 107 months, mean 30 months). Results: Objective cure rate by stress test was 93% (126 of 136 patients) at a mean of 30 months follow-up. The long-term objective cure rate was 94% (49 of 52). Subjectively, the short- and long-term cure rates were 95.3% and 90.4%, respectively. The cotton swab angle deflection decreased by a mean of 54 degrees at 1 year and 50 degrees at 5 years. Of the 10 failures, the mean preoperative cotton swab straining angle was 19.6 degrees, with 6 being Conclusions: The suburethral Mersilene mesh sling has a very high long-term objective and subjective cure rate in the treatment of complicated forms of genuine stress incontinence. Frequent complications do occur but are remediable. The 33% failure rate among patients with a preoperative negative cotton swab angle test result and the very low cotton swab straining angle among the 7% who had sling failures further confirms the widely held belief that sling urethropexy in the absence of hypermobility lacks efficacy. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001;185:32-40.)