SURGICAL PROCEDURES

da Vinci Sacrocolpopexy: Surgery for Uterine or Vaginal Vault Prolapse

The Condition: more than 120,000 cases of uterine and vaginal vault prolapse are surgically treated each year in the United States. Prolapse (or falling) of any pelvic floor organ (vagina, uterus, bladder or rectum) occurs when the connective tissues or muscles within the body cavity are weak and unable to hold the pelvis in its natural orientation. The weakening of connective tissues accelerates with age, after childbirth, with weight gain, and during strenuous physical labor. Women experiencing pelvic organ prolapse typically have problems with urinary incontinence, vaginal ulceration, sexual dysfunction, and/or having a bowel movement. At Coyle Institute, Dr. Michael Coyle has developed the treatment of this unfortunate condition to become one of his primary areas of focus, working with the women in his care to relieve them of the painful effects and help them regain a happy, healthy life.

The Treatment Procedure

Sacrocolpopexy is a procedure to surgically correct vaginal vault prolapse where mesh is used to hold the vagina in the correct anatomical position. This procedure can also be performed following a hysterectomy to treat uterine prolapse to provide long-term support of the vagina.

Sacrocolpopexy has traditionally been performed as an open surgery, during which a 15-30 cm horizontal incision is made in the lower abdomen in order to manually access the inter-abdominal organs, including the uterus. As a “Gold Standard” procedure that has been performed with great success in alleviating multi-compartment pelvic organ prolapse since its development in 1962, sacrocolpopexy’s efficiency has recently been enhanced by the introduction of robotic surgery, most notably the state-of-the-art DaVinci® system, allowing the procedure to be performed in a more minimally invasive way.

For most women, Da Vinci® sacrocolpopexy offers numerous potential benefits over a traditional open approach, including:

  • Significantly less pain
  • Less blood loss and a decreased need for transfusions
  • Less risk of infection
  • Less scarring
  • Shorter hospital stay
  • Shorter recovery time
  • Quicker return to normal activities

As an expert in laparoscopic surgery and his particular expertise in utilizing the Da Vinci® system within his practice as a urogynecologist, Dr. Coyle has been performing DaVinci sacrocolpopexies since 2008, providing his patients with results that have proven to be long-lasting, effective, and life changing. Notably having completed the first “single-site plus one” sacrocolpopexy in the country, Dr. Coyle has once again broken ground in his field and brought laudable attention to his practice at Coyle Institute as one of the best in the nation.

Let Dr. Coyle and his team at Coyle Institute bring you the relief you seek. Give us a call today!