A low cost artisan tension-free tape technique cures pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence – proof of concept

INTRODUCTION: The primary cause of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is weak cardinal/uterosacral (CL/USL) ligaments and for stress urinary incontinence, weak pubourethral ligaments (PUL). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A 1 cm wide tape cut from a mesh sheet was applied tension-free to reinforce already plicated CL/USLs for cure of prolapse and directly to PUL for cure of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). 40 tapes were inserted, 10 midurethrally for SUI and 30 for 2(nd)/3(rd) degree prolapse: 15 to uterosacral ligaments and 15 to cardinal ligaments. RESULTS: At 12 months follow-up there was 72% cure for POP, 70% for SUI and improvement in urge/nocturia symptoms in 82% of patients. At 36 months 8/15 patients were evaluated. Anatomic cure for POP III was 2/4, for POP I-II 6/6. CONCLUSIONS: Though a ‘proof of concept’ study, our results may be sufficient to provide, in time, an alternative individual pathway for surgeons wishing to provide more certainty to a prolapse repair than ‘native tissue’ for an individual patient. The method questions whether expensive mesh kits are really necessary: our data though small, actually part of a learning curve, was within 15 percentage points of more sophisticated, more expensive tensioned slings. Intraoperative complications were low with no tape erosions seen at 12 months. Further validation with larger prospective and comparative trials is required.