Gebhart, John B.

Introduction and Hypothesis To report on clinical presentation, diagnosis, and outcomes after treatment of female urethral diverticulum (UD). Methods Using a record linkage system, women with a new diagnosis of UD at Mayo Clinic from January 1, 1980, through December 31, 2011, were identified. The presenting symptoms, clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and management of women presenting with UD were recorded. Outcomes after surgery were assessed using survival analysis. All statistical analyses were 2-sided and P values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Statistical analysis was done using SAS version 9.2 and JMP version 9.0 (SAS Institute Inc.). Results A total of 164 cases were identified. Median age at diagnosis was 46 years (range, 21–83). The most common presenting symptom was recurrent urinary tract infection (98, 59.8%), followed by urinary incontinence (81, 49.4%), dysuria (62, 37.8%), dyspareunia (37, 22.6%), and hematuria (15, 9.1%). Examination revealed vaginal mass in 55 (33.5%) of the women. A significant trend was noted toward an increase in use of both magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography (P < 0.001) along with a progressive decrease in use of urethrogram (P < 0.001) for diagnosis of UD over the years. Among 114 women who underwent surgical treatment for UD, 14(12.3%) women presented with recurrent UD and the 5-year recurrence rate after surgery for UD was 23.4% (95% confidence interval, 13.9–37.0) and a reoperation rate of 17.0% (95% confidence interval, 8.8–30.2) at 5 years. Conclusions Female UD is a rare and unique condition. Clinical presentation is usually nonspecific, and magnetic resonance imaging is commonly used for confirming the diagnosis. Recurrence is not uncommon, and repeat surgical intervention might be needed.

Objectives This study aimed to determine factors influencing the selection of Mayo-McCall culdoplasty (MMC), open abdominal sacrocolpopexy (ASC), or robotic sacrocolpopexy (RSC) for posthysterectomy vaginal vault prolapse. Methods We retrospectively searched for the records of patients undergoing posthysterectomy apical vaginal prolapse surgery between January 1, 2000, and June 30, 2012, at our institution. Baseline characteristics and explicit selection factors were abstracted from the electronic medical records. Factors were compared between groups using χ2 tests for categorical variables, analysis of variance for continuous variables, and Kruskal-Wallis tests for ordinal variables. Results Among the 512 patients identified who met inclusion criteria, the MMC group (n = 174) had more patients who were older, had American Society of Anesthesiologists class 3+ or greater, had anterior vaginal prolapse grade 3+, desired to avoid abdominal surgery, and did not desire a functional vagina. Patients in the ASC (n = 237) and RSC (n = 101) groups had more failed prolapse surgeries, suspected abdominopelvic pathologic processes, and chronic pain. Advanced prolapse was more frequently cited as an explicit selection factor for ASC than for either MMC or RSC. Conclusions The most common factors that influenced the type of apical vaginal vault prolapse surgery overlapped with characteristics that differed at baseline. In general, MMC was chosen for advanced anterior vaginal prolapse and baseline characteristics that increased surgical risks, ASC for advanced apical prolapse, and ASC or RSC for recurrent prolapse, suspected abdominal pathology, and patients with chronic pain or lifestyles including heavy lifting. Thus, efforts should be made to attempt to control for selection bias when comparing these procedures.