Surgical management of pelvic organ prolapse

Pelvic organ prolapse is a common condition which can have a profound effect on health-related quality of life. The lifetime risk of surgery for pelvic organ prolapse for all women is around 10–12%, making prolapse surgery one of the most commonly performed operations of all. Surgery is generally offered only to women to do not respond to conservative measures such as physiotherapy and/or vaginal pessaries. It is very important to ensure excellent clinical governance around the decision-making process for this elective surgical problem, and this may include the use of written information, face to face and telephone consultations, patient reported outcome measures and patient decision aids. This chapter will cover all the different techniques for prolapse surgery including conventional approaches using native tissue, uterus conserving prolapse surgery and surgery for post-hysterectomy vault prolapse. This will also include laparoscopic prolapse surgery. The role of mesh in prolapse surgery will also be discussed and this chapter will cover important topics including patient selection and preparation for prolapse surgery, shared decision making and how best to facilitate this, patient preparation before prolapse surgery and follow-up post operation.