The Management and Efficacy of Surgical Techniques Used for Erosive Mesh in the Urethra and Bladder: A Systematic Review

This study reports the re-operation and symptom resolution rates of different techniques used in surgical excision of genitourinary mesh erosions. A comprehensive systematic review was completed after searching electronic databases for studies involving outcomes of mesh erosion in humans that were managed surgically using a transvaginal, cystoscopic, or abdominal approach. Surgical outcomes were reported in percentages, ranges, and simple pooling to generate trends in management techniques. There were 177 cases that met our inclusion criteria. Forty-one patients underwent cystoscopic removal of eroded urethral mesh while 40 cases underwent transvaginal removal of urethral mesh. For mesh eroded into the urethra, a transvaginal vs. cystoscopic approach showed a trend toward resolution of symptoms and fewer interventions. For mesh eroded into the bladder, abdominal and cystoscopic approaches had similar symptom resolution, but abdominal approach required fewer interventions.