Assessment of Voiding After Sling (AVAS): A Randomized Trial of Two Methods of Post-operative Catheter Management After Midurethral Sling for Female Stress Urinary Incontinence

Minimally invasive slings have demonstrated similar efficacy to earlier abdominal anti-incontinence procedures, but offer the benefit of shorter operating times, less voiding dysfunction, lower morbidity and are usually done as an outpatient procedure. Despite the advantages, about 35% of patients are discharged home with indwelling catheters. Indwelling catheters are bothersome for patients, costly to the healthcare system and are a source of significant morbidity. The challenge for pelvic surgeons performing anti-incontinence procedures is avoiding postoperative urinary retention while minimizing the use of catheters and their associated risks. A commonly described backfill-assisted voiding trial is used as a means of evaluating bladder function postoperatively. This method uses a low post-void residual as a specific criterion for discharge without a catheter. However, the validity of this method has never been critically evaluated. Our recent observational study suggests that patients may be safely discharged without a catheter after a midurethral sling procedure based on their subjective assessment of the force of stream. Our proposed study expands on this pilot data using a randomized trial to evaluate two methods of post-operative voiding evaluation. The results may lead to a decreased use of indwelling catheters and their associated morbidity after outpatient sling surgery.