By Charlotte Libov
HOLLYWOOD, Fla -- October 1, 2009 -- Women who underwent transvaginal pelvic reconstruction using a partially absorbable mesh reported improvements in sexual health and quality of life after 1 year, according to a new study presented by researchers at the 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS).
Miles Murphy, MD, Institute for Female Pelvic Medicine, Allentown, Pennsylvania, presented the study here on September 26.
Dr. Murphy and colleagues enrolled 99 women in the study (mean age 66.5 years). Two-thirds of the women enrolled had concomitant procedures. Of those who had prior surgeries, 17% had prolapse repair and 12% had incontinence surgery. The subjects underwent transvaginal pelvic reconstruction with mesh between January and December 2007. The subjects all completed preoperative questionnaires and returned for the 1-year follow-up.
Data at 1 year -- including from the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-Short Form 20 (PFDI-20), the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-Short Form 7 (PFIQ-7), the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire-12 (PISQ-12), and the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) -- were compared with preoperative scores.
There was significant improvement in the PFDI-20, PFIQ-7, and PISQ-12 among all patients at 1 year. There was significant improvement overall with regard to quality-of-life and sexual-health scores. POP-Q results revealed a significant improvement in all points at 1 year with no change in vaginal length.
There was no disparity in quality-of-life and sexual-health scores between patients treated for the anterior compartment or the posterior compartment of the vagina.
"When you look at the results of the quality-of-life questionnaires, there was significant improvement," Dr. Murphy concluded. "In terms of sexual health, there were improvements in pain, fear of incontinence, and [sex] avoidance due to bulging. There was also improvement in [sexual] excitement, but it did not reach a statistical significance," he said.
[Presentation title: Quality of Life, Sexual Health, and Anatomic Outcomes One Year After Transvaginal Mesh Construction. Paper 70]
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