Study of Post-hysterectomy Vault Prolapse and Surgical Management.

Purpose of study: To study the epidemiology and various methods of repair of vaginal vault prolapse in selected group of patients and the benefits of various modes of treatment in the management of vault prolapse.

Methods: Thirty-seven patients with grade lll or lV vault prolapse were enrolled in our study. Sacrospinous fixation was performed in 37 patients. High risk factors for prolapse, surgical results and complications were evaluated.

Results: In the current study, maximum cases of vault prolapse, 67.6%, were in the age group of 51-60 years. Out of 37 patients, 18.9% had a history of chronic cough secondary to bronchial asthma or past history of tuberculosis And 13.5% had a bowel dysfunction (chronic constipation). Vaginal vault prolapse most commonly was seen following vaginal hysterectomy (43.3%) as compared to total abdominal hysterectomy (29.7%). Most common surgery was performed for post-hysterectomy vault prolapse being sacrospinous fixation in the current study. In total, 29.7% of the patients had early post-operative complications like urinary tract infection (16.2%), urinary retention (5.4%) and buttock pain (5.4%), and 2.7% had vaginal cuff cellulitis. Dyspareunia is a common complication post-operatively following sacrospinous fixation, due to shortening of vaginal length post-procedure.

Conclusion: Only 29.7% patients had complications, among which most common complication was urinary tract infection, which was treated with injectable antibiotics, urinary retention and buttock pain being the less common complication. Dyspareunia was present only in 18.9% cases post-operatively due to vaginal shortening associated with the procedure. Sacrospinous fixation is a safe and effective procedure.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13224-023-01757-9.