Tension-free vaginal tape bladder penetration and long-lasting transvesical prolene material

Tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) is a well-established surgical procedure for the treatment of female urinary stress incontinence. The operation, described by Ulmsten in 1996, is based on a midurethral Prolene tape support. TVT is accepted as an easy-to-learn and safe minimal invasive surgical technique. Bladder penetration with sling material was described as complicating other surgical methods for correction of female urinary stress incontinence. The aim of this analysis was to determine the occurrence rate of this complication in relation to TVT and to describe a penetrating tape removal technique. Of 524 patients undergoing TVT, and followed for up to 68 months, 68 (13%) had TVT bladder penetrations, all of which were diagnosed and corrected during surgery. One patient, who had been referred with post-TVT recurrent urinary tract infection and dysuria, was diagnosed with a transbladder tape segment. The literature is reviewed and the need for meticulous diagnostic cystoscopy in TVT is discussed.