By Charlotte Libov
HOLLYWOOD, Fla -- October 5, 2009 -- Women with pelvic organ prolapse who used a pessary experienced an improvement in their symptoms, quality of life, and body image, according to a study presented here at the 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urogynecologic Society (AUGS).
Minita Patel, MD, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, Connecticut, and colleagues evaluated the use of vaginal pessary on body image, bother symptoms, and quality of life in women with pelvic organ prolapse who choose not to undergo surgery. Results were presented on September 25.
The study enrolled 80 patients with a mean age of 63.3 years, of which 24 (30%) either could not be fitted for a pessary or desired surgery instead. Follow-up responses were available for a total of 56 patients for interim analysis.
Of the patients, 1 had stage 1 prolapse; 20 had stage 2 prolapse; 31 had stage 3; and 2 had stage 4 prolapse.
Patients completed the 20-question Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI-20), the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ), and a 9-item body image scale (BIS; 0 = no bother to 3 = very bothersome), which has been validated in other studies, 3 months after successful vaginal pessary use.
Following pessary use, scores in the BIS showed a significant decrease (6.2 to 3.4), indicating an improvement in body image and perception.
Both PFIQ scores (43.59 to 18.29) and PFDI-20 scores (83.67 to 45.57) showed a significant decrease following pessary use.
"In women who were successfully fitted for a pessary, both symptoms and quality of life both improved. But what was also very interesting was that we also found that body image and self-perception improved. It was not bad before, but it was lower-than-normal, and better afterwards," Dr. Patel said.
The authors noted that a longer-term follow-up is needed.
[Presentation title: Impact on Pessary Use on Prolapse Symptoms, Quality of Life and Body Image. Paper 74]
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