title: Virtue male sling for post-prostatectomy stress incontinence: a prospective evaluation and mid-term outcomes.
abstract: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the Virtue®male sling (Coloplast, Humlebaek, Denmark) in a cohort of patients affected by post-prostatectomy stress urinary incontinence (SUI).
  
  
  
  All 29 consecutive patients treated with a Virtue male sling at our Institution between July 2012 and October 2013 were included in the present prospective, non-randomized study. Patients were evaluated preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after surgery using a 24-h pad weight test, the International Consultation on Incontinence short-form questionnaire (ICIQ-SF), Urinary Symptom Profile (USP) questionnaire, a bladder diary, uroflowmetry and the Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) and Patient Global Impression of Severity questionnaires.
  
  
  
  The mean patient age was 65.5 years. A total of 72.4% of patients had preoperative mild incontinence (1-2 pads/day), while nine patients used 3-5 pads/day. There were a total of 17 complications, which occurred in 29 patients (58.6%); all were Clavien-Dindo grade I. At 12-month follow-up patients showed a significant improvement in 24-h pad test (128.6 vs 2.5 g), number of pads per day (2 vs 0), ICIQ-SF score (14.3 vs 0.9) and USP score for SUI (4 vs 0), and outcomes remained stable at 36 months. At last follow-up, the median score on the PGI-I questionnaire was 1 (very much better).
  
  
  
  The Virtue male sling is an effective treatment option for low to moderate post-prostatectomy incontinence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferro
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Danilo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bottero
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Integrata of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: D'Elia
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Deliu Victor
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Matei
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cioffi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Serino
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cordima
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bianchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Piero Giacomo
authors.initials: PG
authors.lastname: Incarbone
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brescia
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Musi
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Federico II of Naples, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Ferdinando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fusco
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Serena
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Detti
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Federico II of Naples, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mirone
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy.|University of Milan, Milan, Italy.|'Iuliu Hatieganu', University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Ottavio
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: de Cobelli
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000601:surgery*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011468:Prostatectomy; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D053825:Suburethral Slings / Q000009:adverse effects; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000601:surgery*
keywords: incontinence; male sling; quadratic; radical prostatectomy