Making surgery safer through adequate communication with the stakeholders: vaginal slings

Australian trends in the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse in the non-mesh era

BACKGROUND

To assess the contemporary trends in the types and incidence of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) surgery in Australia after the removal of transvaginal mesh from the Australian market.

METHODS

This was a retrospective Australian cohort study utilizing three large Governmental databases covering all private and public POP procedures in Australia. All females ≥25 years old undergoing POP procedures between 2005 and 2021 were included.

RESULTS

From 2005-2006 to 2020-2021 there have been a total of 408 881 POP procedures in Australia. The total number of procedures peaked in 2005-2006 at 537.8 procedures per 100 000 age-standardized female population, decreasing by an average of 3.5% per year to 329.0 procedures per 100 000 in 2018-2019, an overall 38.8% decrease (P < 0.001). A sudden growth in private operative procedures was noted between 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, from 218.2 to 268.6 procedures per 100 000 population, a 23.1% increase (P < 0.001). Laparoscopic and abdominal POP repair has seen a 115.8% increase from 13.7 procedures to 29.6 per 100 000 between 2005-2006 and 2020-2021. Over the last 15 years, the most common age group to undergo a procedure has changed from the 55 to 64 years demographic to a later decade of 65 to 74 years.

CONCLUSION

Over the last 15 years, the total number of POP procedures performed has significantly decreased. There has however been a recent rise in interventions seen in the private sector and the utilization of laparoscopic or abdominal POP repair has increased, which has implications for procedural credentialing to ensure patient safety.