Evaluating the complications of the urinary incontinence system ATOMS

This study aimed to evaluate the side-effects of the ATOMS system for patients with urinary incontinence. This study concluded that wound infection was the most common side effect of this treatment. 

Urinary incontinence (UI) is the unintentional loss of urine. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) happens during physical movement or activity such as coughing, sneezing, running or heavy lifting. These activities put pressure (stress) on the bladder, causing it to leak. It can be treated using the ATOMS procedure. This is used to treat urinary incontinence after surgery to remove the prostate gland. A synthetic sling (made from plastic mesh) is placed under the urethra (waterpipe), near where the prostate gland used to be. The aim of the sling is to reduce leakage by supporting the urethra.

The side-effects of this device are still unknown. 

This study included 187 patients with persistent SUI that received the ATOMS device. 14.1% of the patients had previous surgery for urinary incontinence. Patients were followed up for an average of 44 months.

The overall success rate of the device was 80.2%. There were 51 (27.3%) side-effects. There were 3 grade IIIa (1.6%) and 29 grade IIIb (15.5%) complications. These are classified as serious side-effects. The most common side effects were wound infection (4.3%) and skin erosion that led to infection (8.02%). Risk factors for complications were previous radiotherapy and surgery for urethral stricture (narrowing of the urethra). 

This study concluded that infection and skin erosion were the most common side effects, particularly in patients that had previous radiotherapy. The authors recommended that good hygiene and accurate surgery be carried out.

This study only included patients that had the ATOMS device. There was no comparison group. This might limit the conclusions that can be drawn from these results.