Gynecologic office “Terazije” offers a minimally invasive procedure using a mini sling for treatment of urinary stress incontinence (involuntary urination, uncontrolled leakage of urine).

The mini-sling procedure is fast, reliable and comfortable; it lasts 20 minutes with local anesthesia and without any particular preparation, the sling or trachea is placed. The patient is brought from a state of stress incontinence i.e. uncontrollable urination to a state of urinary continence i.e. controllable urination. This procedure is performed by Prim Dr. Sci. Med Tomislav Stefanovic, a gynecologist specialist, who perfected this method in his studies in Slovenia, and has a certificate in minimal invasive procedures. At the service of our patients, is also a doctor professor from Slovenia, an European expert in urogynaecology.

Stress incontinence implies involuntary leakage of urine during physical strain, coughing, bending of the body, sneezing, laughing and any other factor that leads to higher pressure in the stomach. Stress incontinence arises with the weakening of the muscles and tissues that the urinary bladder and urinary tube (urethra) depend on, as well as with the weakening of the muscle inside the urethra that controls the urinary drainage.

In normal circumstances, during the filling of the bladder with urin there exists a urethral regulatory mechanism of the urinary tube with which we voluntaryly control the urine swelling, up untill we find ourselves in a situation and forseen place (toilette) to release the urin. When this mechanism weakens any kind of increase in the inside of the stomach can lead to involuntary onflow of urine.

Risk factors for the emergence of this problem include aging, although it could occur at any age, obesity, chronic cough, a consequence of childbirth etc.

This problem disturbs daily activities, the social aspect of life, sexual intercourse and can also have an effect on psychological distress. An additional problem is one of financial nature, since it is also necessery to buy diapers and cartidges frequently.

Therapy for this problem can be conservative and surgical, in which surgical therapy on adequately diagnosed and selected patients gives long-term effects accompanied by minimal risk for compliactions. Of course, if there is suspicion concerning this problem it is necessery to make and appointment for a detailed exam with your gynocologist in order to rule out other types of involuntary urinary release.

So far, several techniques for treating stress incontinence have been described and applied. A method that has proved very succesful and which, according to a number of clinicians dealing with this problem, is a „gold standard“ in treatment, is the technique of the miduretral sling so called „little ribbon“. Sling is a thin stripe grid of polypropylene located beneath the urinary tube and thus strengthens the weakend structures that need to give „support“ to the urethra.
This technique is a minimally invasive surgical procedure that can be performed in local analgesia without hospitalization. One of the latest modifications is the so-called mini sling or „single-incision sling technique“ that differs from the previous precedures in that it requires only one small 2-3cm cut on the vagina. The operation itself does not last longer than 20 minutes and the patient can then normally urinate and go home.

Urinary stress incotinence isn’t a life threatening situation, but can therefore significantly impair the quality of life, and therefore only after detailed diagnosis and the setting of indications for treatment, the patient makes the final decision wether she wants to solve the problem surgically depending on how she endures the existing problem during everyday activities.