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In a randomised trial comparing transobturator tape (TOT) to retropubic tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) for women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI), vaginal examination at 12 months showed that tapes were palpable for 80.0 % of the TOT group versus 26.7 % of the TVT group. We hypothesized that this difference would lead to more women in the TOT group experiencing vaginal mesh erosion or other serious adverse events compared to women in the TVT group 5 years after surgery. All participants were invited to join the follow-up study after being randomised to receive TOT or TVT for SUI. Consenting women had a vaginal examination, a pad test for urinary incontinence (UI) and completed Health-related Quality of Life Questionnaires (HRQOL). Women unable to attend the clinic completed questionnaires only. The primary composite outcome incorporated mesh exposure, urinary retention, repeat incontinence surgery and moderate to severe pelvic pain. Assuming 80 % follow-up, our study would have 67 % power to detect a difference in primary outcome (two-sided 5 % level of significance). Comparisons between groups used chi-square tests and t tests. One hundred and seventy-six (88.4 %) women participated in the 5-year follow-up (83 TOT, 93 TVT). The primary composite outcome occurred in 21.8 % of the TOT and 27.6 % of the TVT groups [difference =−5.8 %, 95 % confidence interval (CI) −18.9 % to 7.3 %, p value 0.39)] Vaginal examination found more women with palpable tapes in the TOT versus the TVT group (48.5 % versus 22.4 %, p value 0.001). There were no other significant differences between groups. Serious adverse events and tape effectiveness did not differ between groups at 5 years. Palpable tape remains a concern for women who receive TOT for treating SUI.

To compare the effectiveness of transobturator tape with tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) in terms of objective cure of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) at 12 months postoperatively.Women with SUI were randomly allocated to either transobturator tape or TVT procedures and reviewed at 12 months after surgery. The primary outcome was objective evidence of "cure," evaluated by standardized pad test (cure defined as less than 1 g urine leaked). Other outcomes included complications, subjective cure, incontinence-related quality of life, return to usual sexual activity, and satisfaction with surgery. Primary analysis compared the proportion of patients in each group who were cured at 12-month follow-up.A total of 199 women participated (94 in the transobturator tape group, 105 in the TVT group). Sixty-eight women (81%) in the transobturator tape group were cured, compared with 67 (77%) in the TVT group (relative risk 1.05, 95% confidence interval 0.90-1.23, P=.577). On vaginal examination, the tape was palpable for 68 women (80%) in the transobturator tape group and for 24 (27%) in the TVT group (relative risk 0.22, 95% confidence interval 0.13-0.37, P.001). More women in the transobturator tape group experienced groin pain during vaginal palpation (13 [15%] in the transobturator tape group and five [6%] in the TVT group, P=.044). Quality of life improved significantly from baseline in both groups (30-point improvement in IIQ-7 score for both groups).At 12 months, the majority of women had minimal leakage and their quality of life had improved significantly, but differences were not observed between groups. The presence of palpable tape, particularly among the transobturator tape group, is concerning; longer follow-up is needed to determine whether this outcome leads to extrusion or resolves over time.ClinicalTrials.gov, www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT00234754.I.

Background In 2006, Ethicon Inc. introduced a new minimally invasive single incision sling device for the surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence, the Gynecare TVT Secur®. For device licensing, no new evidence of TVT Secur efficacy and safety was needed: rather evidence was provided of the long-term follow-up of patients who had a procedure using a predecate retropubic tension-free vaginal tape device. Before adopting TVT Secur into our routine clinical practice, we decided to evaluate it. The objective of our Canadian multi-centre pragmatic randomized controlled trial was to compare the effectiveness of the new single-incision device, TVT Secur, to the established TVT device, in terms of objective cure of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) at 12 months postoperatively. Other outcomes included: complications, symptoms, and incontinence-related quality of life. Results The sample size estimate for our trial was 300, but the trial stopped early because of poor recruitment. 74 women participated (40 allocated to TVT Secur, 34 to TVT). At 12 months postoperatively, 27/33(82%) of TVT Secur group were cured, compared with 25/28(89%) of the TVT group (relative risk 0.92, 95% confidence interval 0.75 to 1.13, p = 0.49). Most women reported little or no SUI symptoms (35/37(95%) vs 29/30(97%), >0.999). Quality of life improved significantly from baseline for both groups (IIQ-7 mean change −25 for both groups) but did not differ between groups (p = 0.880). Conclusion Our small randomized trial did not find statistically significant differences in outcomes between women allocated to the TVT Secur device versus those allocated to the TVT device for stress urinary incontinence. Despite the discontinuation of TVT Secur in March 2013 for commercial reasons, the importance of our study lies in making evidence available for the many women who had a TVT Secur device implanted and their physicians who may be considering alternative treatments. Our experience illustrates the difficulty of undertaking research on new licensed devices in a rapidly changing surgical specialty, and further highlights the need for research before licensing if surgeons and their patients are to be confident in the effectiveness and safety of new surgical devices. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00685217, 22 May 2008.