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Long-term outcomes of Altis® single-incision sling procedure for stress urinary incontinence

International Urogynecology Journal volume 33, pages 717–722 (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis

In women with predominant stress urinary incontinence (SUI), recent data are still controversial regarding the short-term outcomes of mini-slings and there is a lack of evidence about the outcomes in the long term. Our aim was to evaluate the long-term effectiveness and complication rates of Altis® (Coloplast).

Methods

A total of 145 women with clinical SUI were implanted with an Altis® sling between April 2012 and December 2015. Women completed the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICIQ-SF) before the intervention and in the following consultations. A telephone interview was performed in January 2021 and 131 women (90%) were available for re-evaluation. The main outcome was treatment success, defined as no self-reported SUI symptoms and no reintervention. Secondary outcomes included response to ICIQ-SF (cure defined as ICIQ-SF = 0) and Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) questionnaires, de novo overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms and adverse events.

Results

The overall treatment success was 73.3% at a median follow-up of 8 years. The ICIQ-SF cure rate was 66.1%. In the PGI-I, 70.4% answered that they were much better or very much better. Later postoperative complications included 2 cases (1.5%) of vaginal extrusion (requiring surgical removal of the eroded mesh segment), 3 (2.3%) cases of infravesical obstruction (which led to sling section), de novo urgency in 20 patients (15.3%), and mild dyspareunia in 2 (1.5%) patients.

Conclusions

The Altis® sling was safe and effective in a long-term follow-up, improving the quality of life in patients with SUI.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Urology Department, Centro Hospitalar do Funchal, Av. Luís de Camões 57, 9000-177, Funchal, Portugal

    Alexandre Gromicho

  2. Urology Department, Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho EPE, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal

    Jorge Dias, Débora Araújo, Raquel Rodrigues & Luís Ferraz

  3. Urology Department, Centre Hospitalier de Wallonie Picarde, Tournai, Belgium

    George Bou Kheir

Authors
  1. Alexandre Gromicho
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  2. Jorge Dias
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  3. Débora Araújo
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  4. Raquel Rodrigues
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  5. George Bou Kheir
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  6. Luís Ferraz
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Contributions

A. Gromicho: project development, data collection, data analysis, manuscript writing; J. Dias: project development, data management, manuscript editing; D. Araújo: data collection, manuscript editing; R. Rodrigues: data collection; G. Bou Kheir: data analysis; L. Ferraz: manuscript editing.

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Correspondence to Alexandre Gromicho.

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Gromicho, A., Dias, J., Araújo, D. et al. Long-term outcomes of Altis® single-incision sling procedure for stress urinary incontinence. Int Urogynecol J 33, 717–722 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-021-04936-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-021-04936-2

Keywords

  • Long-term outcome
  • Single-incision slings
  • Altis
  • Stress urinary incontinence