Securing Mesh with Delayed Absorbable Suture Does Not Increase Risk of Prolapse Recurrence After Robotic Sacral Colpopexy.

Introduction and Objective: Nonabsorbable monofilament suture is traditionally used to secure vaginal mesh for robot-assisted sacral colpopexy (RASC) but can become exposed postoperatively requiring invasive vaginal removal. Polydioxanone delayed absorbable suture may avoid this. We sought to determine the objective and subjective impact of suture choice for mesh fixation. Materials and Methods: A cohort study was undertaken using a prospective registry and subjects were grouped based on type of suture at the time of RASC. Apical failure was defined as C point descent of >2 cm, anterior compartment failure was defined as pelvic organ prolapse quantification (POP-Q) Ba point of >0, and posterior compartment failure was defined as Bp point of >0. Patient-reported outcomes included urogenital distress inventory (UDI)-6 and QoL. Two-tailed t-test and chi-squared were used for analysis. Results: A total of 119 women underwent RASC between 2009 and 2016. Patients had similar preoperative characteristics (Table 1). All POP-Q, UDI-6, and quality of life (QoL) scores improved postoperatively (Tables 1 and 2). Apical failure was noted in 0, anterior failure was noted in 7 (average Ba +1.1 cm in failures), and posterior failure was noted in 4 (mean Bp +1.0 cm) at 16 months' follow-up. Failures in the anterior compartment were much more common in the nonabsorbable monofilament cohort (Table 2). Failures in the apical and posterior compartments were not significantly different between groups. Nine suture erosions were noted in the nonabsorbable monofilament cohort, five requiring excision in the clinic and two in the operating room. Two suture erosions were noted in the delayed absorbable cohort, 0 required excision. Postoperative UDI-6 and QoL scores did not vary significantly between groups (5.3 ± 4.0 vs 5.1 ± 4.0, p = not significant (NS), 2.8 ± 2.0 vs 2.8 ± 2.2, p = NS). [Table: see text] [Table: see text] Conclusion: Securing mesh with delayed absorbable monofilament did not appear to increase risk of failure in patients undergoing RASC and eliminates the need for suture excision postoperatively.

Robotic Sacral Colpopexy.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE: Robot-assisted sacral colpopexy (RASC) is a fast growing approach for surgeons treating patients with advanced stage pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Open abdominal sacral colpopexy has been the gold standard for advanced POP but requires longer hospital stays and a much larger incision. The indications, preoperative preparation, operative positioning, and operative steps are detailed, and an accompanying video shows the approach. METHODS: RASC can be broken down into 11 steps and the reader will be able to reference the article to the corresponding portion of the video. RESULTS: A total of 119 women underwent RASC between 2009 and 2016. Patients had similar preoperative characteristics. All POP-Q, UDI-6, and quality of life scores improved postoperatively. Apical failure was noted in 0, anterior failure was noted in 7 (average Ba +1.1 cm in failures), and posterior failure was noted in 4 (mean Bp +1.0 cm) patients at 15.6 months' follow-up. A total of 11 suture erosions were noted in five patients requiring excision in the clinic and 2 patients in the operating room. Four suture erosions were managed with observation. Two mesh exposure events were noted. CONCLUSION: Outcomes for robotic sacral colpopexy are like those of open abdominal sacral colpopexy.

Women's Health Care Teams and the Future of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Health care delivery is in a stage of transformation and a meaningful change in provision of care must also be accompanied by changes in the educational process of health care professionals. This article lays out a roadmap to better prepare obstetrician-gynecologists (ob-gyns) to succeed in interdisciplinary women's health care teams. Just as our current educational programs emphasize the development of competent surgical skills, our future programs must encourage and support the development of communication, teamwork, and leadership skills for ob-gyns. Formal integration of these fundamentals at all levels of the health care training continuum will create an educational system designed to equip all practitioners with a basic level of knowledge and provide opportunities to acquire additional knowledge and skills as needs and interest dictate. Integral to the implementation will be the evaluation of the effects of the contributions of interprofessional education on patient, practice, and health system outcomes. Successful demonstration of value will lead to the sustainability of the educational programs through recognition by physicians, health care teams, academia, health care systems, and payers.

Sexual functioning following elective hysterectomy: the role of surgical and psychosocial variables.

In this article, two studies were conducted to investigate the surgical and psychosocial correlates of women's post-hysterectomy sexual functioning. In Study 1, sexual functioning was measured in an online convenience sample of 65 women who had undergone elective hysterectomy. Results suggested that most women experienced improved sexual functioning after their hysterectomy. Women who underwent hysterectomy to treat endometriosis reported less improvement in sexual functioning as compared to women who had hysterectomies for other indications, and women who had abdominal hysterectomies reported less improvement in sexual functioning as compared to women who had vaginal hysterectomies. Sexual functioning post-hysterectomy was associated with psychosocial variables, particularly body esteem and relationship quality. In Study 2, sexual functioning was investigated at two time points three to five months apart in a sample of 14 women who reported developing sexual problems following their elective hysterectomies. Results suggested that, among women suffering from post-hysterectomy sexual dysfunction, sexual pain and difficulty with orgasm increased over time.

Hand-assisted laparoscopic management of a midtrimester rudimentary horn pregnancy with placenta increta: a case report and literature review.

Pregnancy in a rudimentary horn is an extremely rare but serious obstetric condition. It is associated with uterine rupture and increased maternal mortality. The standard treatment is excision of the pregnancy and rudimentary horn. Several case reports describe a successful laparoscopic approach for rudimentary horn pregnancies diagnosed in the first trimester. A midtrimester rudimentary horn pregnancy was managed with a hand-assisted laparoscopic technique. This patient sought prenatal care at 19 weeks without any symptoms. A routine ultrasound found an empty uterus and an abdominal pregnancy was suggested. She subsequently had a hand-assisted laparoscopic delivery of a 19-week fetus with excision of the left-sided noncommunicating rudimentary horn. Intraoperative and pathologic findings were both consistent with a noncommunicating uterine horn pregnancy with placenta increta. Midtrimester rudimentary horn pregnancy can be successfully managed via hand-assisted laparoscopy in a patient who is hemodynamically stable.

Prenatal diagnosis of a trisomy 7/maternal uniparental heterodisomy 7 mosaic fetus.

Chromosomal segregation anomalies often result in trisomy of a single chromosome, which can lead to a disastrous phenotype in the fetus. However, this trisomy is often "rescued" via loss of one of the triploid chromosomes. Depending on which chromosome is eliminated in the rescue, a condition known as uniparental disomy may arise where both copies of a particular chromosome pair originate from the same parent. Here we describe the case of a 32-year-old woman who was prenatally diagnosed with trisomy 7 mosaicism via amniocentesis. Forty-one percent of the colonies analyzed displayed trisomy 7 (two maternal chromosomes and one paternal chromosome); whereas, 59% of the colonies demonstrated a normal, disomic karyotype. Further analysis revealed that the "normal" cell lineage displayed maternal uniparental heterodisomy. Chorionic villus tissue was homogeneously trisomic, and cord blood cells were uniformly disomic. This is the first case of trisomy 7/uniparental disomy 7 mosaic fetus reported in the literature. It is important to note that not all such cases will result in lethality or a fetus with major anatomic, developmental, or cognitive abnormalities. In addition, the benefit of pre- and post-screening test counseling and support is discussed in reference to fetuses with chromosomal abnormalities in general and our case in particular.