[Management of female stress urinary incontinence. Endoscopic extraperitoneal artificial urinary sphincter--early experience].

Implantation of an artificial urinary sphincter (AUS) is an established surgical option for treating female stress urinary incontinence due to internal sphincter deficiency (ISD). However, this operation is often performed as an open surgical procedure. Here, we introduce an endoscopic extraperitoneal approach for implanting an artificial urinary sphincter. Two women (ages 22 and 79 years) underwent endoscopic extraperitoneal implantation of the AMS 800 artificial sphincter. In both cases, neurogenic bladder disease was the underlying cause of ISD. The endoscopic extraperitoneal approach allowed excellent preparation and mobilisation of the bladder neck and implantation of the AUS. The overall operating time was <120 min. Both patients were mobilised on the same day and could be discharged from the hospital after 5-6 days. The AUS were activated after 6-9 weeks. However, after an average of 6 months, total continence was achieved in both patients. Laparoscopic extraperitoneal implantation of AUS in women with moderate to severe stress urinary incontinence is safe and might be less traumatic to neighbouring organs than the open operation. However, more implantations are needed to evaluate the long-term feasibility of this method.