Does Ventral Rectopexy Improve Pelvic Floor Function in the Long Term?

BACKGROUND: Information is needed on long-term functional results, sequelas, and outcome predictors for laparoscopic ventral mesh rectopexy. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate long-term function postventral rectopexy in patients with external rectal prolapse or internal rectal prolapse in a large cohort and to identify the possible effects of patient-related factors and operative technical details on patient-reported outcomes. DESIGN: This was a retrospective review with a cross-sectional questionnaire study. SETTINGS: Data were collated from prospectively collected registries in 2 university and 2 central hospitals in Finland. PATIENTS: All 508 consecutive patients treated with ventral rectopexy for external rectal prolapse or symptomatic internal rectal prolapse in 2005 to 2013 were included. INTERVENTIONS: A questionnaire concerning disease-related symptoms and effect on quality of life was used. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Defecatory function measured by the Wexner score, the obstructive defecation score, and subjective symptom and quality-of-life evaluation using the visual analog scale were included. The effects of patient-related factors and operative technical details were assessed using multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The questionnaire response rate was 70.7% (330/467 living patients) with a median follow-up time of 44 months. The mean Wexner scores were 7.0 (SD = 6.1) and 6.9 (SD = 5.6), and the mean obstructive defecation scores were 9.7 (SD = 7.6) and 12.3 (SD = 8.0) for patients presenting with external rectal prolapse and internal rectal prolapse. Subjective symptom relief was experienced by 76% and reported more often by patients with external rectal prolapse than with internal rectal prolapse (86% vs 68%; p < 0.001). Complications occurred in 11.4% of patients, and the recurrence rate for rectal prolapse was 7.1%. LIMITATIONS: This study was limited by its lack of preoperative functional data and suboptimal questionnaire response rate. CONCLUSIONS: Ventral mesh rectopexy effectively treats posterior pelvic floor dysfunction with a low complication rate and an acceptable recurrence rate. Patients with external rectal prolapse benefit more from the operation than those with symptomatic internal rectal prolapse.