Percutaneous needle colposuspension to Cooper's ligament for the treatment of stress incontinence in women: a report of 82 cases

We describe a procedure for the treatment of genuine stress urinary incontinence by percutaneous needle colposuspension of the bladder neck to Cooper's ligament. The procedure was performed in 82 patients and was associated with other procedures in 75 cases (91.5%). The mean operative time was 19 min (range 15 to 30). One peroperative hemorrhagic complication (1.2%) was noted. Nine postoperative complications were observed (10.9%) including seven urinary infections, one retropubic hematoma and one fever of unknown etiology. The mean follow-up was 13 months (range 6 to 22). Eight patients had a failure of the technique. All failures were diagnosed during the two first postoperative months. They included five cases of detrusor instability and three of persistent urinary incontinence. No additional failure was noted among the 53 patients having a follow-up greater than 12 months, suggesting a good stability of this new technique of colposuspension with a success rate of 85%. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.