Tension-free vaginal tape versus lata fascia sling: The importance of transvulvar ultrasound in the assessment of relevant anatomical parameters in treatment of women with stress urinary incontinence

OBJECTIVE: To describe the relevance of transvulvar ultrasound in the assessment of anatomical differences induced by the lata fascia sling (LFS) and tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedures. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI), aged 30 to 60 years, have been treated with either LFS (20 patients) or TVT (20 patients). The transvulvar ultrasound of the urethrovesical junction (UVJ) and proximal urethra (PU) has been used as the main investigational tool both pre- and post-operatively. The studied parameters were the vertical (VUVJD) and horizontal (HUVJD) UVJ distances, the pubourethral distance (PUD) and the PU length. RESULTS: The VUVJD did not vary significantly after the LFS surgery (P=0.10). The PUD became shorter (P=0.001) and the HUVJD became shorter only at rest (P=0.03) after the correction by LFS. The TVT procedure has led to shortening of the VUVJ displacement (P=0.0005) and of the PU length (P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: The transvulvar ultrasound was of utmost importance in the demonstration that both the LFS and TVT surgical procedures elongate the PU, even though the LFS technique does it more efficiently. The LFS technique focus more on shortening the PUD and the TVT procedure focus more on the correction of the vertical UVJ displacement.