Manchester-Fothergill procedure versus vaginal hysterectomy with uterosacral ligament suspension: an activity-based costing analysis.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common diagnosis that imposes high and ever-growing costs to the healthcare economy. Numerous surgical techniques for the treatment of POP exist, but there is no consensus about which is the ideal technique for treating apical prolapse. The aim of this study was to estimate hospital costs for the most frequently performed operation, vaginal hysterectomy with uterosacral ligament suspension (VH) and the uterus-preserving Manchester-Fothergill procedure (MP), when including costs of postoperative activities. METHODS: The study was based on a historical matched cohort including 590 patients (295 pairs) who underwent VH or MP during 2010-2014 owing to apical prolapse. The patients were matched according to age and preoperative prolapse stage and followed for a minimum of 20 months. Data were collected from four national registries and electronic medical records. Unit costs were obtained from relevant departments, hospital administration, calculated, or estimated by experts. The hospital perspective was applied for costing the resource use. RESULTS: Total costs for the first 20 months after operation were 3,514 € per VH patient versus 2,318 € per MP patient. The cost difference between the techniques was 898 € (95% confidence interval [CI]: 818-982) per patient when analyzing the primary operation only and 1,196 € (CI: 927-1,465) when including subsequent activities within 20 months (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The MP is substantially less expensive than the commonly used VH from a 20-month time perspective. Healthcare costs can be reduced by one third if MP is preferred over VH in the treatment of apical prolapse.

The Manchester-Fothergill procedure versus vaginal hysterectomy with uterosacral ligament suspension: a matched historical cohort study.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: This study compares vaginal hysterectomy with uterosacral ligament suspension (VH) with the Manchester-Fothergill procedure (MP) for treating pelvic organ prolapse (POP) in the apical compartment. METHODS: Our matched historical cohort study is based on data from four Danish databases and the corresponding electronic medical records. Patients with POP surgically treated with VH (n = 295) or the MP (n = 295) in between 2010 and 2014 were matched for age and preoperative POP stage in the apical compartment. The main outcome was recurrent or de novo POP in any compartment. Secondary outcomes were recurrent or de novo POP in each compartment and complications. RESULTS: The risk of recurrent or de novo POP in any compartment was higher after VH (18.3%) compared with the MP (7.8%) (Hazard ratio, HR = 2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3-4.8). Recurrence in the apical compartment occurred in 5.1% after VH vs. 0.3% after the MP (hazard ratio (HR) = 10.0, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-78.1). In the anterior compartment, rates of recurrent or de novo POP were 11.2% after VH vs. 4.1% after the MP (HR = 3.5, 95% CI 1.4-8.7) and in the posterior compartment 12.9% vs. 4.7% (HR = 2.6, 95% CI 1.3-5.4), respectively. There were more perioperative complications (2.7 vs. 0%, p = 0.007) and postoperative intra-abdominal bleeding (2 vs. 0%, p = 0.03) after VH. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the MP is superior to VH; if there is no other indication for hysterectomy, the MP should be preferred to VH for surgical treatment of POP in the apical compartment.

Regenerative medicine provides alternative strategies for the treatment of anal incontinence.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Anal incontinence is a common disorder but current treatment modalities are not ideal and the development of new treatments is needed. The aim of this review was to identify the existing knowledge of regenerative medicine strategies in the form of cellular therapies or bioengineering as a treatment for anal incontinence caused by anal sphincter defects. METHODS: PubMed was searched for preclinical and clinical studies in English published from January 2005 to January 2016. RESULTS: Animal studies have demonstrated that cellular therapy in the form of local injections of culture-expanded skeletal myogenic cells stimulates repair of both acute and 2 - 4-week-old anal sphincter injuries. The results from a small clinical trial with ten patients and a case report support the preclinical findings. Animal studies have also demonstrated that local injections of mesenchymal stem cells stimulate repair of sphincter injuries, and a complex bioengineering strategy for creation and implantation of an intrinsically innervated internal anal sphincter construct has been successfully developed in a series of animal studies. CONCLUSION: Cellular therapies with myogenic cells and mesenchymal stem cells and the use of bioengineering technology to create an anal sphincter are new potential strategies to treat anal incontinence caused by anal sphincter defects, but the clinical evidence is extremely limited. The use of culture-expanded autologous skeletal myogenic cells has been most intensively investigated and several clinical trials were ongoing at the time of this report. The cost-effectiveness of such a therapy is an issue and muscle fragmentation is suggested as a simple alternative.

The Manchester procedure versus vaginal hysterectomy in the treatment of uterine prolapse: a review.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Uterine prolapse is a common health problem and the number of surgical procedures is increasing. No consensus regarding the surgical strategy for repair of uterine prolapse exists. Vaginal hysterectomy (VH) is the preferred surgical procedure worldwide, but uterus-preserving alternatives including the Manchester procedure (MP) are available. The objective was to evaluate if VH and the MP are equally efficient treatments for uterine prolapse with regard to anatomical and symptomatic outcome, quality of life score, functional outcome, re-operation and conservative re-intervention rate, complications and operative outcomes. METHODS: We systematically searched Embase, PubMed, the Cochrane databases, Clinicaltrials and Clinical trials register using the MeSh terms "uterine prolapse", "uterus prolapse", "vaginal prolapse" "pelvic organ prolapse", "prolapsed uterus", "Manchester procedure" and "vaginal hysterectomy". No limitations regarding language, study design or methodology were applied. In total, nine studies published from 1966 to 2014 comparing the MP to VH were included. RESULTS: The anatomical recurrence rate for the middle compartment was 4-7 % after VH, whereas recurrence was very rare after the MP. The re-operation rate because of symptomatic recurrence was higher after VH (9-13.1 %) compared with MP (3.3-9.5 %) and more patients needed conservative re-intervention (14-15 %) than after MP (10-11 %). After VH, postoperative bleeding and blood loss tended to be greater, bladder lesions and infections more frequent and the operating time longer. CONCLUSIONS: This review is in favour of the MP, which seems to be an efficient and safe treatment for uterine prolapse. We suggest that the MP might be considered a durable alternative to VH in uterine prolapse repair.