The impact of the mid-urethral slings for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence on female sexuality.

INTRODUCTION: No available review has been specifically designed to analyze the relationship between mid-urethral slings for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and female sexual function.

AIM: The aim of our review has been to go through the available evidence and define the present state of the art about the effects of this specific type of surgery for SUI on female sexuality.

METHODS: PubMed was searched for reports about the impact of mid-urethral slings on female sexual function that were published from 1995 to 2008, and the most relevant papers were reviewed.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Review on the effect of mid-urethral slings on sexuality.

RESULTS: A total of 14 papers including 904 women have been published about the relationship between mid-urethral slings and female sexual function. The main mechanism accounting for improved sexuality is the cure of coital incontinence, while the most common symptom related to worsened sexual life is dyspareunia.

CONCLUSIONS: In the majority of cases, women undergoing mid-urethral sling procedures for SUI report that their sexual function is improved or unchanged by this type of surgery, although a not negligible risk of developing dyspareunia (<15%) exists. There are no sufficient data to draw definitive conclusions about possible differences between retropubic vs. transobturator procedures.