Urinary Stress Incontinence

In women with stress urinary incontinence, pelvic muscles and tissue have been weakened by childbirth trauma causing the bladder and urethra to relax from their normal positions. The sudden, added pressure from coughing, sneezing , laughing or simple lifting can cause accidental loss of urine.

The most common procedure offered women for this problem up until the early 1990's was a vaginal hysterectomy and bladder repair. Besides having a mediocre success rate of less than 60%, this procedure also entailed several days in the hospital with a catheter and at least six weeks of recuperation.

A much more successful procedure was the Burch colposuspension which required suturing the tissue around the urethra to the pubic ligaments. This had a success rate of close to 85% but required a six inch abdominal incision and the attendant hospital stay.

In the nineties, some gynecologists successfully performed this operation through the laparoscope on an outpatient basis. In fact, Dr. Sun performed the first one in Lake County,Illinois in 1994.

By the millennium, gynecologists began to offer their patients a new procedure called the mid urethral sling. This had a similar effective rate of about 85% but did not require any abdominal or laparoscopic approach. Instead, it was performed through a half inch incision in the vagina.

Most patients were able to leave the hospital after a couple of hours and were able to return to full activity in a couple of days. Dr. Sun has successfully used this approach since 2001 on his patients.