Figure 4.

Distances in millimeters (mm) between the suburethral tapes and the urethra. With the TOT 8/4 technique (black dots), 83% of tapes were placed within a tape-urethra distance of 3–5 mm (light grey marked area). Only 28% of tapes of our so far standard “tension-free” TOT technique (white dots) were found in that area. According to the literature, up to 60% of suburethral tapes were placed in less than 3 mm distance to the urethra (white squares) [6]. Urethral obstruction was observed in about 20% of patients after “tension-free” TOT (grey dotted columns) and according to the literature (dark grey columns). No urethral obstruction was observed after TOT 8/4.