A way of treating urinary incontinence in women, called the tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure, remains effective for at least seven years, researchers report.

“The TVT is a minimally invasive operation for treatment of female stress incontinence with a high cure rate and low risk of complications,” Dr. Carl Gustaf Nilsson from Helsinki University Central Hospital in Finland told AMN Health.

TVT involves placing a polypropylene tape around the mid-urethra, through a small vaginal incision. The tape is implanted under local anesthesia with sedation. Nilsson noted that the operation “can be performed as a day surgery procedure and needs only 10 days recovery.”

Nilsson and his colleagues checked up on 80 women seven years after they had undergone the procedure.

Of the 64 women who could be evaluated in the clinic, 54 (84 percent) were dry on a pad test, and 61 (95 percent) had a negative stress test, the investigators report in the medical journal Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Among all 80 women contacted, the report indicates, the overall cure rate was 81 percent.

Eighteen of the women reported symptoms of urge, the researchers note, but none of the women complained of voiding difficulties and there were no signs of the tape material being rejection.

“The absence of long-term adverse events associated with the TVT operation and high ... 7-year postoperative cure rates make the TVT operation a recommendable surgical treatment for female stress urinary incontinence,” the team concludes.

“The TVT procedure is suitable for the majority of patients who are thought to benefit from surgery,” Nilsson added.

SOURCE: Obstetrics and Gynecology, December 2004.