Local anesthesia for Altis^® single incision sling in women with stress urinary incontinence

Abstract

Objective

Local anesthesia for single incision slings has shown a good objective and subjective cure rate in women with stress urinary incontinence. The aim of the present study was to verify the efficacy and safety of local anesthesia during Altis^® single incision placement.

Material and methods

One hundred sixty-six consecutive patients (83 patients for each group: local resp. spinal anesthesia) were selected from our database for this retrospective study among women who underwent an Altis^® implantation for SUI from September 2016 to June 2021, after unsuccessful previous conservative treatment. Primary endpoints were objective and subjective cure rates; secondary endpoint was the evaluation of complications linked to this procedure.

Results

A total of 155 included patients completed our 12 months follow-up. Baseline characteristics were similar between the groups. Operative time (percentage difference of 50%; p < 0.05) and the Intraoperative Difficulty Scale resulted lower in spinal patients. No differences were found between populations in terms of objective (cough stress test and urodynamics) and subjective (PGI-I and FSDS questionnaires) cure rate and postoperative complications.

Conclusion

Local anesthesia for Altis^® implantation could be considered a safe alternative to spinal anesthesia and an effective opportunity to avoid general anesthesia, increasing the possibility of outpatient implantation of this sling system.

Keywords:

• Altis
• stress incontinence
• local anesthesia
• urgency
• urodynamics

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.