Vaginal Sling (Mid-Urethral Sling)

A vaginal sling, also called a mid-urethral sling or bladder sling, is a narrow strip placed under the urethra or bladder neck to support it and stop urine leaks caused by stress urinary incontinence. It can be made from the patient's own tissue, donor tissue, or synthetic surgical mesh. The mesh version is often called "tape."

The FDA describes two main mesh approaches. In a multi-incision sling procedure, surgeons use one vaginal incision plus two abdominal incisions (retropubic) or two groin or thigh incisions (transobturator); a "mini-sling" uses a shorter piece of mesh and may need only one incision. Mesh slings became popular because they are less invasive than older repairs that required a larger abdominal incision.

Some patients later reported mesh erosion through the vaginal wall, chronic pain, pain during sex, infection, and urinary problems, sometimes requiring more surgery that cannot always remove all of the mesh. Those injuries drove large product liability litigation against mesh manufacturers. It is important to separate slings from mesh used for pelvic organ prolapse: the FDA's 2019 order to stop selling transvaginal mesh applied to prolapse repair products, not to slings for incontinence.

Mesh injury claims are individual personal injury cases, typically managed in consolidated proceedings rather than class actions. Our hernia mesh lawsuit page covers a related type of mesh litigation, and the guide to multidistrict litigation explains how thousands of similar device cases move through federal court.