The Southern Medical Journal (SMJ) is the official, peer-reviewed journal of the Southern Medical Association. It has a multidisciplinary and inter-professional focus that covers a broad range of topics relevant to physicians and other healthcare specialists.

SMJ // Article

Original Article

Increased Rate of Vaginal Adhesion in Hematologic Cancer Survivors after Vaginal Prolapse Surgery

Authors: Christopher P. Chung, MD, Lauren Bernal, MD, Nora Ruel, MA

Abstract

Objective: We sought to determine whether there is an increased rate of vaginal adhesion complications between a hematologic cancer survivor population and a benign population after vaginal prolapse surgery.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on patients with a history of hematologic cancer undergoing vaginal prolapse surgery at our institution between 2013 and 2021. A group of patients who underwent vaginal prolapse surgery without a history of cancer served as our control population. The χ2 or Fisher exact test and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used to compare categorical and continuous data, respectively, between the hematology patients and noncancer controls.

Results: Twenty-nine patients with a history of hematologic malignancy and 491 patients with no history of cancer underwent transvaginal prolapse repair from 2013 to 2021. Baseline characteristics across all groups were similar. Median blood loss was lower in the hematologic malignancy cohort versus the noncancer cohort (75 vs 100 mL, P = 0.03). The primary difference in the rate of complications was in vaginal septum/adhesion, which was more common in the hematology group (6.9 % vs 1.0 %, P = 0.05).

Conclusions: Women with hematologic cancer had a higher rate of vaginal adhesion complications from prolapse surgery as compared with women without cancer.
Posted in: Obstetrics and Gynecology53

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