COMPARING THE SUCCESS AND COMPLICATION RATES OF TWO SURGICAL TECHNIQUES FOR TRANSOBTURATOR TAPE PROCEDURE

OBJECTIVE: Transobturator tape procedure is one of the preferred methods for the surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence. This procedure can be performed with either ‘internal-external’ or ‘external-internal’ techniques. This study aims to compare the success, complication and patient satisfaction rates of internal-external and external-internal techniques in patients who underwent transobturator tape procedure during a period of five years. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Twenty-four patients who were operated with ‘external-internal’ transobturator tape technique and 42 patients who were operated with ‘internal-external’ tension-free vaginal tape-obturator technique were included. Patients were assessed in aspect of success rates, postoperative complication rates, pelvic examination findings, stress test results, operation satisfaction and quality of life scales. RESULTS: The patients in both groups were statistically similar in terms of age, body mass index and menopausal status. Vaginal / groin pain and postoperative voiding difficulty were significantly more frequent in the internal-external technique group (respectively p=0.043 and p=0.001). Both objective and subjective success rates were statistically similar in both groups. The patient satisfaction and life quality rates scores were also statistically similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Transobturator tape procedure provides high success rates in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. As for both internal-external and external-internal techniques, the success rates, the patient satisfaction and postoperative life quality scores were similar