title: Mini-arc for the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence: long-term prospective evaluation by patient reported outcomes.
abstract: Single-incision slings were introduced in the surgical treatment of female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) to lessen the morbidity associated with traditional midurethral slings. However, long-term reports on patient satisfaction are still scarce. This study describes the outcome of women treated with Mini-Arc at a mean follow-up of 45 months. In a previous report on 105 women with 15-month mean follow-up, 84 (80%) were found cured and 12 (11%) improved. Now, with a mean follow-up of 45 months, cured/improved patients were reassessed by telephone and completed Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I), Patient Global Impression of Severity (PGI-S), rated their improvement in a 0-100 scale, and answered if they would recommend the procedure. At 45-month follow-up, 73 women cured/improved were available for evaluation. Over 80% of the cured patients rated the improvement of SUI by the PGI-I as "very much better" or "much better," reported their urinary tract condition to be "normal" on PGI-S, and described their improvement >70%. Ninety percent would recommend this procedure to a friend. The improved-patient population is very small (n = 7). This study shows that the majority of patients cured/improved after Mini-Arc placement maintain a high degree of satisfaction at a long-term evaluation.
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rui
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6098-1256
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oliveira
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal ; Serviço de Urologia, Centro Hospitalar São João, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Resende
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal ; Serviço de Urologia, Centro Hospitalar São João, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal ; Serviço de Urologia, Centro Hospitalar São João, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2893-5492
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dinis
authors.affiliation: Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal ; Serviço de Urologia, Centro Hospitalar São João, Alameda Professor Hernâni Monteiro, 4200-319 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Francisco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cruz