title: Anterior vaginal wall reconstruction: anterior colporrhaphy reinforced with tension free vaginal tape underneath bladder base.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effectiveness of the polypropylene tape in preventing cystocele recurrence.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty Caucasian women aged 50-77 years (mean age 66.6 years), with stage II-IV pelvic organ prolapse, enrolled into the study. Vaginal reconstructive surgery included an anterior colporrhaphy on all patients, posterior colpoperineorrhaphy on 28 patients and hysterectomy on 36 patients. Patients were divided into a study group of 28 women and a control group of 22 women. As reinforcement to the anterior colporrhaphy procedure, in the study group a polypropylene tape (TVT-O) was placed underneath the bladder base and fixed with polyglactin sutures. Postoperative follow-up was carried out every 4 months (total 48 months). The assessment of the anatomic result included both clinical evaluation of the operated sites and perineal sonography.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean postoperative distance of the bladder base to the inferior edge of the symphysis pubis was 1.5 cm (range: 1.0-2.2 cm) in the study group and 2.8 cm (range: 2.0-3.8) in the control group. Postoperatively, there were two cases of stress incontinence and two cases of urge incontinence, one in each group. No case of tape erosion was noted, no dyspareunia and no recurrent cystocele in the study group. Four cases of recurrent cystocele (20%) were reported in the control group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While the preliminary results of our study are encouraging, larger series of patients and longer follow-up are required to verify the effectiveness of the aforementioned modification.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Aristotle University, Hippokration General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece. tantanasis@yahoo.com
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tantanasis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giannoulis
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Daniilidis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Papathanasiou
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Loufopoulos
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tzafettas
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D052858:Cystocele / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D053825:Suburethral Slings; D013536:Suture Techniques; D013520:Urologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D014621:Vagina / Q000601:surgery*