Vaginally Placed Meshes: A Review of Their Complications, Risk Factors, and Management

Abstract

With the aging population, the number of women who will undergo surgery for pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is increasing dramatically. Pelvic reconstructive surgeries for genital prolapse have been shown significant improvement in quality of life and prolapse-related symptoms. With improving the surgical techniques and introducing synthetic mesh, more women undergo repairs of POP recently. However, with the increasing use of mesh in pelvic reconstructive surgery, there has been an increase in the number of patients seeking care for mesh-related complications. There has been a recent surge in the literature regarding the use of vaginally placed mesh for pelvic floor disorders largely due to the widely publicized complications associated with its use. The aim of this study is to review the current literature on mesh complications in POP treatment, with specific emphasis on vaginally-placed mesh for POP.