Pessary use for conservative treatment of pelvic organ prolapse: literature review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP) affects the quality of life (QoL) of women and requires treatment. Because it is more prevalent in elderly patients, its surgical treatment may be limited by clinical contraindications or the patient’s desire for conservative treatment. These patients may, therefore, benefit from the use of pessaries. PURPOSE: to analyse the published studies concerning the impact on the quality of life (QoL) of women with POP through the use of pessary treatment, as well as the risk factors arising from the failure of this method. METHOD: bibliographic review using the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and PubMed® databases, using the terms “pelvic organ prolapse, pessary and quality of life”, published between January 2011 and December 2016. RESULT: The studies show that treatment using a pessary reports good progress, improving the symptomatology caused by the prolapse, and this result is similar to patients who underwent surgical treatment. The questionnaires for the evaluation of QoL used were diverse, but all observed improvement. CONCLUSION: conservative pessary treatment is a viable option for women suffering from POP, even at an advanced stage of POP, but a pessary is more commonly used by those in whom there is contraindication to surgical treatment.