A modified sling mid-urethral suspension plus subcutaneous tunnel-double point fixation technique for male stress urinary incontinence: a pilot study

Objectives The aim of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of a modified sling mid-urethral suspension + subcutaneous tunnel-double point fixation technique for the treatment of male urinary incontinence and to preliminarily evaluate the short-term clinical efficacy of this technique.Patients and methods The clinical data of patients treated with the modified sling mid-urethral suspension + subcutaneous tunnel-double point fixation technique using a Pelvimesh pelvic floor repair patch as a sling were collected. The primary evaluation criteria were surgery-related indicators and daily urinal pad usage before and after treatment, and the secondary evaluation criteria were the corresponding incontinence scores and the results of surgery-related questionnaires.Results After 1-12 months of follow-up, seven patients were clinically cured. Follow-up 1 month after surgery showed that one patient (14.3%) used one pad daily, and six patients (85.7%) did not need pads. The incontinence quality of life questionnaire (I-QOL) scores at 3 days and 1 month postoperatively were 89.4 +/- 2.5 and 88.1 +/- 6.7, respectively, which were significantly higher than the preoperative scores (31.5 +/- 18.9) (P < 0.05). The scores of the International Continence Control Association Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICI-Q-SF) at 3 days and 1 month postoperatively were 3.2 +/- 0.9 and 4.2 +/- 1.7, respectively, which were significantly lower than the preoperative scores of 19.4 +/- 5.0 (P < 0.05). In addition, the results of the surgery-related questionnaires were positive. No serious complications occurred in any of the patients.Conclusion The modified sling mid-urethral suspension + subcutaneous tunnel-double point fixation technique for the treatment of male urinary incontinence patients is safe, effective, minimally invasive, and has few complications. However, further validation in large sample, randomized, comparative, and longer-term follow-up studies is still needed.