ABSTRACT
The tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) procedure for the treatment of female urinary stress incontinence is a sling operation. For more than a century, sling operations have been developed and performed with satisfactory degree of success in terms of achieved dryness. The classical sling operations as described by goebbel [1], frangenheim [2], stoeckel [3], and aldridge [4] are all major invasive surgical procedures, with the inevitable risk of complications, postoperative morbidity, and voiding difficulties. Slings of many different materials–allografts, xenografts, and synthetics–have been used. Classical slings are placed at the bladder neck in order to correct hypermobility and to enhance pressure transmission of intra-abdominal pressure provoked by straining. This mechanism of action is in alignment with the most popular theories of the past century, describing the causes of urinary incontinence [5].
