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Surgery for stress urinary incontinence in Australia: current trends from Medicare data

Joseph K Lee and Peter L Dwyer
Med J Aust 2010; 192 (7): . || doi: 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2010.tb03572.x
Published online: 5 April 2010

To the Editor: The advent of midurethral slings (MUSs) has revolutionised surgery for female stress urinary incontinence. An MUS is a narrow, synthetic (usually polypropylene) tape that is surgically placed beneath the middle part of the urethra, traversing either the retropubic space or the obturator foramina to provide dynamic support in order to restore urinary continence.


  • Department of Urogynaecology, Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne, VIC.


Correspondence: jlee@mercy.com.au

Competing interests:

Peter Dwyer is principal investigator of several randomised controlled trials of procedures for alleviating stress urinary incontinence, including pubovaginal slings, Burch colposuspension, urethral bulking and MUSs. He is also principal investigator of an ongoing randomised controlled trial involving a minisling, for which he has received a research grant from American Medical Systems.

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  • 2. Novara G, Ficarra V, Boscolo-Berto R, et al. Tension-free midurethral slings in the treatment of female stress urinary incontinence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of effectiveness. Eur Urol 2007; 52: 663-678.
  • 3. Ogah J, Cody JD, Rogerson L. Minimally invasive synthetic suburethral sling operations for stress urinary incontinence in women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2009; (4): CD006375.
  • 4. Cody J, Wyness L, Wallace S, et al. Systematic review of the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of tension-free vaginal tape for treatment of urinary stress incontinence. Health Technol Assess 2003; 7 (21): iii, 1-189.
  • 5. Serati M, Salvatore S, Uccella S, et al. Surgical treatment for female stress urinary incontinence: what is the gold-standard procedure? Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct 2009; 20: 619-621.
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  • 7. Dwyer PL. Minimally invasive surgery in urogynecology. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct 2009; 20: 485-486.

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