Abstract
Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common condition and is thought to affect approximately
40% of women over the age of 40, with prevalence increasing with age. Although POP
is not usually associated with mortality, it can significantly impact quality of life.
Management of POP includes, the option of no treatment, conservative and lifestyle
management, pessary management or surgery. Options for management should take into
consideration the woman's preference, the site of prolapse, lifestyle factors, comorbidities,
age, desire for childbearing, previous surgery and whether the patient is sexually
active. The risks and benefits of each option should be discussed, and women should
be included in decision making. Vaginal pessaries are intravaginal devices that aim
to restore prolapsed vaginal compartments to a normal position with aim to relieve
symptoms. There are a wide variety of pessaries and these are usually made of plastic
or silicone. The most commonly used pessaries in the UK are discussed in this article.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Obstetrics, Gynaecology and Reproductive MedicineAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
Further reading
- Individualised pelvic floor muscle training in women with pelvic organ prolapse (POPPY): a multicentre randomised controlled trial.Lancet. 2014; 383: 796-806
- International urogynecological association (IUGA)/international continence society (ICS) joint report on the terminology for pelvic organ prolapse (POP).Int Urogynecol J. 2016; 27 (Erratum,2016, 27: 655-684; Neurourol Urodyn,2016,35:137-168): 165-194
- A 5-year prospective study of vaginal pessary use for pelvic organ prolapse.Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2011; 114: 56-59
- Nice guideline 123: urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse in women: management.2019
- UK Clinical Guideline for best practice in the use of vaginal pessaries for pelvic organ prolapse.2021
- UK Clinical Guideline for best practice in the use of vaginal pessaries for pelvic organ prolapse.2021
Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 20, 2023
Publication stage
In Press Corrected ProofIdentification
Copyright
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
