The use of synthetic materials in pubovaginal sling.

Abstract

Various authors have reported that a pubovaginal sling is efficacious for correction of all types of female stress incontinence.7 Autologous, cadaver, and synthetic allografts have been utilized as supporting materials. Leach et al16 have suggested that autologous slings decay over time, resulting in recurrent stress incontinence. Badlani et al10 have reported that synthetic materials are more durable in maintaining stable cure rates than autologous slings. Infectious and erosive complications of synthetic materials are well known. Urethral erosion is the most feared complication of synthetic sling surgery, causing many urologie surgeons to shy away from using synthetic biomaterials. However, not all synthetic materials result in equally unfavorable reaction to human host tissues. Various synthetic materials have differing inherent biochemical and surface characteristics that result in different biological outcomes. This chapter will review these characteristics.