Effect of hysterectomy on re-operation for stress urinary incontinence: 10 year follow-up

Purpose Hysterectomy and mid-urethral sling (MUS) are common operations, but little is known about how hysterectomy after MUS affects the risk for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) relapse. Methods We included 49 women with a MUS before hysterectomy and 41 women with a MUS concomitant with hysterectomy. The controls, matched by age (± 2 years), MUS type (retropubic vs transobturator) and operation year (± 2 years), included 201 women who underwent the MUS operation without a subsequent hysterectomy. We used health care registers for follow-up of 12.4 years in median (IQR 10.9–14.7) after the MUS operation to compare the number of SUI re-operations and hospital re-visits for urinary incontinence. Results The re-operation rates for SUI did not differ between the women with MUS before hysterectomy ( n = 2, 4.1%), women with MUS concomitant with hysterectomy ( n = 2, 4.9%) and their controls ( n = 4, 4.9%, p = 0.8 and n = 6, 5.0%, p = 1.0, respectively). There were significantly fewer urinary incontinence re-visits among women who had a MUS concomitant with the hysterectomy compared to their matched controls ( n = 2 and 31, 5 and 31%, p < 0.01) and to the women with a MUS prior to hysterectomy ( n = 2 and 10, 5 and 20%, respectively, p = 0.03). Conclusion Hysterectomy after or concomitant with MUS does not seem to increase the risk for SUI re-operation or hospital re-visits for urinary incontinence. These results can be used to counsel women considering hysterectomy after MUS operation or concomitant with MUS operation.