[TVT: three years of experience].
BACKGROUND
Since the description of the TVT technique as a therapy to stress urinary incontinence, in 1996, about 150000 subjects have undergone it. This technique was first used in our centre in november 1998. This article is aimed to contain our view of its evolution in the past three years.


METHODS
142 patients of an average of 59 years old have been operated on. In 57% of the cases, we also focused on the solutions to anatomic pelvis disorders.


RESULTS
After a follow-up of 17 months and a mean of 14 months, 93% of the cases succeeded. Failures arose during the first six months of therapy. We found the following complications: 4.8% of bladder perforations, 17% of postoperative retentions of no longer than 30 days, 2% of long-term retentions, 2.7% of postsurgical hematomas, and 9% of urge incontinence. Surgery was performed on 10 patients who had undergone surgery against bladder incontinence before, and all the cases proved success.


CONCLUSIONS
This technique is simple and only requires a short surgical time, and it can be applied for major ambulatory surgery. Although it is possible to encounter complications, they rarely occur and results are still encouraging. However, it is now necessary to verify that our long-term studies match with the success rates of 84.7%.
Jiménez Calvo
J
J
Servicio de Urología, Hospital Virgen del Camino, Pamplona, Navarra.
Hualde Alfaro
A
A
Santiago González de Garibay
A
A
Pinós Paul
M
M
Jiménez Aristu
J
J
Montesino Semper
M
M
de Pablo Cárdenas
A
A
Lozano Uruñuela
F
F
Ripa Saldias
L
L
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000601:surgery*; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects; D014621:Vagina