Long-Term Observation on Postoperative Recurrence and Complications of Transvaginal Mesh Surgery for Pelvic Organ Prolapse

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the risk factors for subjective recurrence and complications of patients who underwent transvaginal synthetic mesh surgery. Design: This retrospective cohort study included patients who received transvaginal mesh (TVM) surgery between January 2005 and June 2019. Methods: The information of patients was collected, including basic characteristics, subjective recurrence, and mesh-related complications. The clinical characteristics of patients with and without subjective recurrence were compared. The sexual activities of patients before and after the operation were recorded. SPSS 20.0 was used for the statistical analysis. Results: A total of 257 patients were included. Among them, 62 (24.1%) patients were lost to follow-up. The median follow-up time was 80 months (12 months, 170 months). Finally, 195 patients were followed up, 11 (5.6%) patients had a subjective recurrence of pelvic organ prolapse, and 26 (13.3%) patients had mesh-related complications (11 patients with de novo pain and 15 patients with mesh exposure). We found significant differences in age (68.9 ± 5.1 vs. 63.4 ± 5.8 years old), years of postmenopause (17.5 ± 6.3 vs. 13.3 ± 6.9 years), previous hysterectomy (27.3% vs. 6.0%), and concomitant hysterectomy (45.5% vs. 81.0%) between patients with and without subjective recurrence (p < 0.05). The mesh exposure proportion of patients with total vaginal mesh (47.6%) was significantly higher than that with anterior vaginal mesh (2.9%) (p < 0.05). Furthermore, 6.7% of sexually active patients reported de novo dyspareunia. Limitation: The investigators could only record the subjective recurrence of patients, and thus there is a lack of objective recurrence data. Conclusion: Age, years of postmenopause, and previous hysterectomy are risk factors for subjective recurrence of TVM surgery; however, concomitant hysterectomy is a protective factor. Mesh exposure is the most common complication, especially for total vaginal mesh repair surgery.