A comparative analysis of urethral sling surgery and non-ablative vaginal Erbium:YAG laser treatment in 327 patients with stress urinary incontinence.

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a condition characterized by urine leakage due to increased abdominal pressure. In this study, we compared tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) and non-ablative vaginal Erbium:YAG laser treatment (VEL) for women with SUI using propensity score (PS) analysis. We included 102 patients in the TVT group, 113 patients in the VEL group, and 112 patients in the control group, all aged 35 to 50, from multiple medical institutions. Both the TVT and VEL groups showed significant improvements in the 1-hour pad test and ICIQ-SF scores compared to the control group. PS analysis revealed similar improvements in the 1-hour pad test and ICIQ-SF scores for both groups. However, the VEL group exhibited a significantly greater improvement in OABSS compared to the TVT group. Odds ratio analysis for the 1-hour pad test did not reveal any significant differences between the TVT and VEL groups. These findings suggest that VEL could be considered as an alternative treatment option to TVT for managing SUI.