Stress urinary incontinence surgery, with or without the use of transvaginal mesh, is not associated with an increased risk for pelvic malignancy in women, according to a study published in The Journal of Urology. Researchers used data from 74,968 women in Ontario (January 1, 2002 through October 31, 2015), without a history of pelvic malignancy who underwent an index stress incontinence surgery to evaluate associations between mesh or non-mesh incontinence surgery and later cancer. The analysis included data from a control group of 5,505,576 women who did not undergo stress urinary incontinence surgery. During a median follow-up of 8.5 years, 587 pelvic malignancies occurred in the surgery group. There was a reduced risk for pelvic malignancy independent of surgery type among women who underwent stress incontinence surgery compared with controls (mesh hazard ratio [HR], 0.68; non-mesh HR, 0.37). Following stress incontinence surgery, the individual pelvic cancers also demonstrated a reduced risk for malignancy. “Our population-based study finds no evidence of increased risk of pelvic cancers following stress urinary incontinence surgery, with or without the use of transvaginal mesh,” a co-author stated. “Providers can confidently reassure women regarding the lack of association.”
