title: Ultrasonographic assessment of tape location following tension-free vaginal tape and transobturator tape procedure.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The purpose of this study was to perform an ultrasonographic comparison of tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) and the TVT-obturator (TVT-O) procedure in women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI).
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively reviewed 159 women with SUI undergoing either TVT (n=91) or TVT-O (n=68). All subjects underwent perineal ultrasonographies, pelvic examination, urinalyses, 1-h pad tests, multichannel urodynamic studies and a personal interview using the Bristol Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Questionnaire before and 1 year after surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  At rest or during Valsalva, the middle of the TVT-O tape localised more distally than the TVT on ultrasound (p<0.01). A higher rate of urethral kinking during straining was observed in the TVT group compared with the TVT-O group after surgery (86.9 versus 23.9%, p<0.01). Mean operative time was significantly shorter in the TVT-O group (16.2 versus 28.6 min, p<0.01). The rate of objective cure was comparable for the TVT and TVT-O groups (94.5 versus 88.2%, p<0.05). However, subjective cure rate was significantly lower for the TVT-O than the TVT group (82.4 versus 93.4%, p=0.042). There was no statistical difference between the 2 groups regarding patient characteristics and complication rates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  TVT-O tape results in a less acute angle and localises to a more distal part of the urethra, resulting in less urethral compression and a lower rate of urethral dynamic kinking.
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Cheng-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Long
authors.forename: Chun-Shuo
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Tsia-Shu
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Lo
authors.forename: Cheng-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yung-Hung
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Eing-Mei
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Tsai
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D053825:Suburethral Slings; D014463:Ultrasonography; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery*; D014563:Urodynamics