-

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is an important public health problem that significantly reduces quality of life. Today, there is a growing trend to change the current approach of surgical treatment of SUI in woman by using simple, effective and safe techniques that tend to significantly shorten the duration of hospitalization and reduce treatment cost with faster establishment of working capacity. According to that, the application of economic principles in healthcare has the task of comparison between the therapeutic methods that account their costs, benefit and health consequences. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy and economic viability of obturator tension free vaginal tape (TVT-O) method for treating SUI by using the cost – benefit analysis. The study was a retrospective-prospective study, which included 60 patients who were surgically treated after having a diagnosis of SUI in the period from January 2007 to August 2010 in the Regional Hospital in Bihać. The results identify TVT-O as a method of choice in the treatment of SUI, where the benefit of TVT-O method is up to 4.2 times higher in comparison to the vaginoplasty. Analyzing the clinical efficacy showed a shorter operative time, a shorter length of hospital stay and less complications by using TVT-O method. The outcome results showed that 83% of patients were considered to be cured and 17% had improved health status after TVT-O surgery. According to the parameters of quality of life, patients treated with TVT-O procedure showed a significantly faster return to their social activities and vitalities. Key words: Obturator tension free vaginal tape, stress urinary incontinence, cost-benefit analysis Obturator