Genital prolapse: a follow-up study assessing subjective and objective results five years or more after surgical intervention.

Background: With few reports in the field, we wanted to assess the long-term outcome of vaginal repair by objective and subjective measures.

Methods: One hundred and sixty-seven women underwent surgical repair during a five-year period from 1990. Five years or more after surgery, 93 women were interviewed and underwent a physical examination to evaluate the post-operative results.

Results: Sixty-eight women (72%) stated that they were satisfied with the operative result. Five women (5.4%) had undergone relapse surgery. The examination revealed relapse in seven women (7.5%). Persistent sensation of vaginal pressure and heaviness was the most frequent symptom among those who were not satisfied with the operative result. The mean age was 67.8 years. The frequency of "de novo" urinary leakage post-operatively does not seem to exceed the expected development of leakage attributable to ageing in the population.

Conclusions: The results in this study reveals that the need for relapse surgery is twice the reported figure when thorough anatomical examination is performed. There is also a discrepancy between the anatomical findings and the subjective symptoms reported by the patient.