Comparison of UpholdTM Vaginal Mesh Procedure with Hysterectomy or Uterine Preservation for the Treatment of Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Urodynamic profile of voiding in patients with pelvic organ prolapse after surgery: a systematic review with meta-analysis

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a defect of the female pelvic floor. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI), urge urinary incontinence (UUI), and obstructive symptoms may occur in these patients. The objective of surgical treatment is to restore the anatomy and function of the pelvic floor; however, it may prompt urinary symptoms not present previously. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine urodynamic changes in patients undergoing surgical correction for POP.

METHODS

PubMed and Cochrane databases were searched for studies that contained data from urodynamic evaluation before and after vaginal surgery for POP. The main urodynamic data collected were free uroflowmetry (maximum flow [Qmax], voided volume, and post-void residual volume [PVR]), cystometry (bladder capacity, presence of detrusor overactivity [DO], SUI or UUI, and Valsalva leak point pressure), and pressure × flow study (detrusor pressure at maximum flow [PdetQmax], Qmax, and PVR).

RESULTS

A total of 22 studies were included (1,549 women). Patients had a significantly higher prevalence of DO before surgery (OR = 1.56; 95% CI = 1.06-2.29), and surgeries without sling placement demonstrated a tendency to ameliorate DO. Patients who did not receive a sling were more incontinent after surgery. Bladder-emptying parameters improved after surgery, with higher PdetQmax before surgery (IV = 3.23; 95% CI = 0.45-1.18). Patients who did not receive MUS presented a lower Qmax (IV = -3.19; 95%CI = -4.09 to -2.30) and a higher PVR (IV = 27.89; 95%CI = 15.68-40.1) before surgery.

CONCLUSION

Correction surgery for POP yields better urodynamic emptying parameters, with a reduction in the prevalence of DO. In contrast, sling placement enhances obstructive parameters.

Role of Hysteropexy in the Management of Pelvic Organ Prolapse

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

To discuss considerations for hysteropexy for apical pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and summarize available literature comparing various hysteropexy techniques to analogous procedures involving hysterectomy.

RECENT FINDINGS

Hysteropexy for apical POP has increased in popularity in recent years, although anatomic factors and gynecologic cancer risk must be taken into account. Native tissue hysteropexy options include the LeFort colpocleisis, sacrospinous hysteropexy, and uterosacral hysteropexy. Although vaginal mesh was banned by the Food and Drug Administration in 2019, abdominal mesh sacrohysteropexy done either open or laparoscopically remains an option in the USA. Overall, short-term prolapse outcomes appear to be comparable between uterus-sparing approaches and hysterectomy, with less blood loss and shorter operating room time observed with the uterine-sparing approaches, although long-term outcome data remains variable and limited. Uterine-sparing apical POP repair may be offered to appropriate patients without certain risk factors, although longer-term data will be required to evaluate durability.

Vaginal mesh hysteropexy: a review

PURPOSE OF REVIEW

Pelvic organ prolapse surgery is performed via native tissue or graft augmented repair. Graft augmentation with synthetic mesh was introduced to improve long-term surgical outcomes compared with vaginal native tissue repairs. Vaginal hysteropexy has recently become increasingly popular due to patient preference and an improved morbidity profile over hysterectomy, while maintaining comparable efficacy. As long-term outcomes remain unanswered, mesh augmentation to vaginal hysteropexy has sought to improve efficacy while minimizing complications.

RECENT FINDINGS

Recent studies have demonstrated superiority of vaginal mesh hysteropexy to vaginal hysterectomy with native tissue vault suspension. Short-term follow-up of vaginal mesh hysteropexy has also demonstrated lower blood loss and operative time with improved vaginal length compared with hysterectomy. Mesh exposure rates across studies were low and comparable to those of abdominally placed prolapse mesh.

SUMMARY

Vaginal mesh hysteropexy is a comparably well tolerated and effective surgical treatment option for women with uterovaginal prolapse. Although vaginal mesh kits are not commercially available, this procedure may be a viable treatment option in select patients.

Clinical Risk Factors for Uterine Cervical Elongation among Women with Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Background: Cervical elongation is commonly associated with pelvic organ prolapse (POP). It was an identified risk for recurrent prolapse after hysteropexy, requiring additional surgeries. The aim of the study is to investigate the risk factors for uterine cervical elongation among women with POP. Methods: In this single-center retrospective cohort study, women who underwent vaginal total hysterectomy for POP between 2014 and 2016 were collected. The cervical and total uterine lengths were measured by pathologists, while the ratio of cervical length to total uterine length were calculated. The cervical elongation is defined as corpus/cervix ratio ≤ 1.5. Results: A total of 133 patients were enrolled in this study. Among these patients, 43 women had cervical elongation and 90 women had normal length of uterine cervix. We found that age > 65 years old (67.4% vs. 42.2%, p = 0.007), total vaginal length ≥ 9.5 cm (65.1% vs. 45.6%, p = 0.035), uterine weight < 51 gm (72.1% vs. 52.2%, p = 0.03), and Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory 6 (POPDI-6) ≥ 12 (30.2% vs. 14.4%, p = 0.032) were associated with the risk of cervical elongation. There were no significant differences on preoperative urodynamic parameters in the two groups. Conclusion: The patient age > 65 years old, the total vaginal length of POP-Q system ≥ 9.5 cm, uterine weight < 51 g, and POPDI-6 ≥ 12 are independent risk factors of cervical elongation in women with POP. For women scheduled for pelvic reconstructive hysteropexy, concomitant cervical amputation should be considered.

The efficacy and complications of using transvaginal mesh to treat pelvic organ prolapse in Taiwan: A 10-year review

Transvaginal mesh (TVM) insertion for the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is significantly associated with lower failure rates, although its use remains controversial due to the potential risk of mesh-related complications. In this review, we collected the published literature regarding the use of TVM to treat POP in an attempt to assess both the efficacy and complications related to TVM usage in Taiwan. We searched 25 English language articles using PubMed related to TVM in Taiwan from 2010 to 2019. The present article focuses on the efficacy and complications of TVM and analyzes the data. There were 25 studies on TVM selected for this review. Regarding their success rate, 21 out of the 22 studies (95.5%) had more than a 90% objective success rate. Twenty studies (90.9%) had less than 10% major complications of TVM. Twenty out of the 25 studies (80.0%) had 5% or less mesh exposure. For self-cut TVM and the later single-incision TVM, both the complication rates and exposure rates decreased. The rate of de novo dyspareunia ranged from 2.6% to 14.3%, and the incidence decreased yearly from 2011 to 2019. This review showed both the high treatment efficacy and low complication rate of TVM usage for the short-term treatment of POP in Taiwan. However, a longer-term study is needed to draw a conclusion regarding the safety of this treatment.

Anterior Bilateral Sacrospinous Fixation With Transvaginal Mesh: Is Hysterectomy a Risk Factor for Complications?

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of hysterectomy on the risk of complications from transvaginal pelvic organ prolapse surgery with mesh.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study between October 2010 and December 2017. Transvaginal mesh surgery was performed in patients with symptomatic anterior and/or apical prolapse (Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification ≥ stage 2). The primary outcome was rate of severe surgical complications based on the Clavien-Dindo classification (defined as grade ≥3), and the secondary outcome was the anatomical success at the last postoperative follow-up visit.

RESULTS

Three hundred and ninety-six patients were included, 289 of these patients underwent anterior sacrospinous fixation with uterine preservation, 50 had a previous hysterectomy and 57 underwent a concomitant hysterectomy. The median follow-up was 12 months (interquartile range, 7 months). The rate of severe complications was 2.1%, 6.0%, and 5.3% in the uterine preservation group, previous hysterectomy group, and concomitant hysterectomy group, respectively (P = 0.2). The operative time was significantly higher in the concomitant hysterectomy group, and the mesh exposure rate was significantly higher in the previous hysterectomy group. The overall recurrence rate was 7.6%, with no differences between the study groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Concomitant and previous hysterectomy did not appear to increase the severe complication rate or anatomical failure after transvaginal mesh surgery. However, a history of hysterectomy appears to be a risk factor for vaginal mesh exposure. This must be considered in the choice between prosthetic and autologous management options for the treatment of posthysterectomy vault prolapse.

The clinical and urodynamic outcomes of single-incision mesh surgery using the Uphold system for the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse

This retrospective cohort study aims to assess the clinical and urodynamic outcomes of single-incision mesh surgery with the Uphold system. The medical records of 140 women with anterior and/or apical compartment prolapse stage 2 or greater who underwent Uphold mesh surgeries were reviewed. The clinical evaluation included a pelvic examination, a urodynamic study (UDS), and a personal interview to evaluate lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). After a follow-up time of 12–30 months, the anatomical reduction rates were 100% and 96.4% for the apical and anterior compartments, respectively, and these rates were similar across women with or without hysterectomy. All of the LUTS and several UDS parameters improved significantly. The continence rate in women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) was improved if they also underwent a mid-urethral sling (MUS) operation. However, the continence rate did not differ between women with and without occult urodynamic stress incontinence who did not undergo a concomitant MUS operation. The rate of vaginal mesh extrusion was 2.8%, and this complication rarely occurred beyond the learning curve. In conclusion, the anatomic correction of the Uphold system was satisfactory with a low rate of mesh extrusion. Women with SUI would benefit from a concomitant MUS operation.

Laparoscopic Long Mesh Surgery with Augmented Round Ligaments: A Novel Uterine Preservation Procedure For Apical Pelvic Organ Prolapse

We aim to assess the surgical outcomes of our novel hysteropexy procedure, laparoscopic long mesh surgery (LLMS) with augmented round ligaments. Twenty-five consecutive women with stage II or greater main uterine prolapse defined by the POP quantification staging system were referred for LLMS. Long mesh is a synthetic T-shaped mesh, with the body fixed at the uterine cervix and the two arms fixed along the bilateral round ligaments. The clinical evaluations performed before and 6 months after surgery included pelvic examinations, urodynamic studies, and questionnaires for urinary and sexual symptoms. After a follow-up time of 12 to 24 months, the anatomical reduction rate was 92% (23/25) for the apical compartment. The average operative time was 65.4  ±  28.8 minutes. No major complications were recognized during LLMS. The lower urinary tract symptoms and scores on the questionnaires improved significantly after the surgery, except urgency urinary incontinence and nocturia. Neither voiding nor storage dysfunction was observed after the operations. All of the domains and total Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) scores of the 15 sexually active women did not differ significantly after LLMS. The results of our study suggest that LLMS is an effective, safe, and time-saving hysteropexy surgery for the treatment of apical prolapse.

Predictors for de novo stress urinary incontinence following pelvic reconstruction surgery with transvaginal single-incisional mesh

The study aims to identify predictors for de novo stress urinary incontinence (SUI) following Elevate mesh surgery. A total of 164 women who underwent Elevate mesh surgeries between November 2011 and February 2014 in a single center were included. Seventy-three women were excluded due to preoperative incontinence or concomitant mid-urethral sling surgery. Fourteen others were excluded due to incomplete medical records. Fisher’s exact test and χ² test were applied. The univariate logistic regression was used for odds ratios. Of the 77 continent women, 24 (31.2%) experienced de novo SUI after the operation. Significantly more women with de novo SUI were over the age of 64 years (75.0% vs. 47.2%, p = 0.023, OR 3.36, 95% CI 1.15–9.79). Preoperative occult urodynamic stress incontinence (29.2% vs. 3.8%, p = 0.003, OR 10.0, 95% CI 2.0–50.0) and previous SUI history (41.7% vs. 7.6%, p = 0.001, OR 9.1, 95% CI 2.38–33.3) were 2 other predictors of de novo SUI postoperatively. In conclusion, age over 64 years old, occult urodynamic stress incontinence, and previous history of SUI are 3 significant predictors for de novo SUI following the single-incision mesh surgeries.

Comparison of the vault prolapse rate after vaginal hysterectomy with or without residual uterine ligament ligations: A retrospective cohort study

PURPOSE

To evaluate the post-hysterectomy vault prolapse (PHVP) rates performed using different methods of vaginal total hysterectomy (VTH).

METHODS

A total of 251 women who underwent VTH with/without concomitant surgeries between January 1986 and December 2001 in a tertiary center. Thirty-eight women were excluded due to not only a vaginal approach. Of the remaining 213 women, 129 and 84 underwent VTH via the Tsuzi method with residual uterine ligament ligations (ligations group) and traditional VTH (without ligations group), respectively. The χ² and Mann-Whitney U tests were applied appropriately. The cumulative percentages of women without PHVP were calculated over time and compared using Kaplan-Meier curves and log-rank tests. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Compared to the without ligations group, women in the ligations group had longer operation time (115.9 ± 37.1 vs. 103.3 ± 41.4 min, p = 0.002) and more blood loss (217.4 ± 137.8 vs. 148.2 ± 149.0 mL, p < 0.001). When focusing on women with uterine prolapse, only operation time and grade of uterine prolapse were different between the groups (117.3 ± 24.8 vs. 107.9 ± 40.5 min, p = 0.025, and 21% vs. 41%, p = 0.018, respectively). The rate of PHVP was significantly lower in the ligation group than in the without ligations group (0 vs. 5, p = 0.005).

CONCLUSION

VTH via the Tsuzi method with residual uterine ligament ligations resulted in fewer cases of PHVP than occurred in traditional VTH. If native tissue repair is planned in pelvic reconstruction surgery, VTH with residual uterine ligament ligations should be considered.

Changes in Sexual Function Following Uphold Transvaginal mesh Surgery for the Treatment of Urogenital Prolapse

Uphold transvaginal mesh implantation is an option for treating pelvic organ prolapse (POP). This prospective cohort study aims to evaluate the effect of Uphold transvaginal mesh implantation on female sexual function. 205 women with symptomatic POP were recruited and evaluated pre-operatively and re- evaluated six months post-operatively in terms of anatomical restoration, quality of life influenced by urinary incontinence and female sexual function. 30 women eventually completed the assessments and been statistically evaluated. The main outcome focused on sexual function. In our study, we found that Uphold transvaginal mesh surgery could achieve effective anatomical restoration of POP and better sexual function regardless of concomitant sling surgery.

Uterine-preserving pelvic organ prolapse surgery using the UPHOLD LITE vaginal support system: The outcomes of 291 patients

This article aims to evaluate the safety and outcome of women with pelvic organ prolapse (POP) treated by a minimally invasive bilateral sacrospinous hysteropexy (UPHOLD LITE Vaginal Support System, Boston Scientific) without concomittent anti-incontinence surgery.This retrospective study was conducted between 2014 and 2016. Evaluated items included surgical parameter and postoperative outcome.Three hundred thirteen women with POP were eligible and 22 were excluded because of history of either or more following situations, such as hysterectomy, mesh augmentation, previous anti-incontinence procedures, and radical pelvic surgery before. With a median follow-up of 26 months, surgery-related morbidity rate was 23.7% (69/291), including 1 with bladder injury (0.3%), 2 with hematoma (0.7%), 8 with urinary tract infection (2.8%), 48 with voiding dysfunction (16.5%) and 10 with mesh problems (3.4%). Among these morbidities, 12 patients (4.1%) needed surgical intervention, including 6 for mesh problems, 1 for bladder injury, 2 for hematoma, and 3 for anti-incontinence surgery. The difference of pelvic organ prolapse quantification (POP-Q) stage before and after surgery showed a statistical significance (anterior portion from 1.36 ± 2.60 to -2.69 ± 0.26, posterior portion from -1.29 ± 2.08 to -2.46 ± 0.62, and cervix portion from 2.03 ± 4.80 to -6.98 ± 2.26, all P < .001). At the end of August 2018, re-intervention rate for POP recurrence was 2.1% (n = 6), including abdominal sacrocolpopexy (n = 1), anterior repair (n = 1), vaginal total hysterectomy and uterine-sacral ligament suspension (n = 1), vaginal total hysterectomy and LeFort (n = 1), LeFort (n = 1), and pessary support (n = 1).Because some women developed postoperative lower urinary tract symptom, preoperative evaluation, including careful and detailed history taking, and urodynamic evaluation is suggested. After adequate counseling, uterine-preserving sacrospinal ligament suspension by UPHOLD LITE Vaginal Support System surgery could be considered in the management of women with POP, because of its high successful rate (97.9%) and low morbidity rate.