Long-term tensile properties of tension-free vaginal tape, suprapubic arc sling system and urethral sling in an in vivo rat model

Purpose: Slings have gained widespread popularity for stress urinary incontinence. Commonly used sling materials include TVT™, SPARC™ and Stratasis®. To our knowledge no long-term comparative in vivo studies assessing the tensile strength of these materials have been reported. We examined tensile properties during a 1-year period after in vivo implantation in a rat model.Materials and Methods: A total of 30 Sprague-Dawley rats had 1 × 2 cm strips of TVT, SPARC and Stratasis implanted on the inner abdominal wall. The animals were grouped for sacrifice at 6 weeks, and 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, at which time the tape materials along with their associated fibrotic tissue were removed. Tensile properties were analyzed.Results: The initial control mean break load for TVT, SPARC and Statasis was 0.717, 0.453 and 0.298 kg, respectively (p = 0.001). At 6 weeks, and 3, 6, 9 and 12 months TVT had a mean break load of 0.525, 0.678, 0.696, 0.568 and 0.522 kg, respectively. During the same intervals SPARC had a mean break...