The use of vaginal mesh as implant for the treatment of Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) and Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) has been well known to many physicians and adult women worldwide. It was believed as the treatment of choice for these conditions at first. But due to the rapid increase of complaints on the complications related to vaginal mesh surgery, the number of vaginal mesh lawsuits have also multiplied all over the United States.
In 2010, there were over 100,000 procedures involving surgical mesh, and75 percent of these were implanted vaginally.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued information on the safety of vaginal mesh, since reports of complications relating to it have increased. The number of complaints reported to the FDA about the complications of vaginal mesh from 2008 to 2010 has reached to over 1500 cases; this is five-folds more than the recorded cases from 2005 to 2007.
Most frequently, the complications reported were mesh erosion, infection, pain, bleeding, organ perforation, urinary problems, and recurrence of prolapse. Out of these, the most common is mesh erosion, and has the tendency to prompt the development of other complications. In fact there was a research on vaginal mesh started on October 2010 which was stopped due to the mesh erosion which affected 15 percent of the participants. Moreover, mesh erosion is the most difficult to deal with since it requires multiple operations to repair; and most often, mesh erosions are impossible to correct.
Based on the reports made by the FDA, vaginal mesh procedures cause negative effects to patients who receive it. In comparison to other non-mesh procedures, the benefits of vaginal mesh are not well-defined. Furthermore, the agency encourages all involved surgeons to consider traditional procedures first to treat their patients with POP and SUI before resorting to vaginal mesh surgery, and only performing it when the advantages outweigh the risks.
The FDA also stressed the importance of the surgeons expertise in the placement of vaginal mesh by going through effective trainings, the careful observation of complications during the operation and recovery phase, the patients knowledge on the potential dangerous effects of vaginal mesh.
The number of vaginal-mesh-related complications continue to grow despite the fact that
vaginal mesh FDA warning was first announced in 2008. The reason for this is the continuous availability of these products in the market as mesh manufacturers are still producing them, making them available to health care professionals who are licensed to practice vaginal mesh procedures. While patients have the right to be protected by their respective physicians, they are also responsible of making themselves knowledgeable about the possible negative consequences of vaginal mesh procedures.
