Rising prolapse cases burden surgeons

Surgeons at the National Obstetric and Fistula Centre, NOFIC, in Abakaliki have raised concern about growing cases of pelvic organ prolapse3 outstripping obstetric fistula. A backlog of nearly 600 women with prolapse are awaiting surgery at the centre, according to its chief medical director, Dr Sunday-Ileogben Adeoye. That’s after some 532 were operated on to […]

Surgeons at the National Obstetric and Fistula Centre, NOFIC, in Abakaliki have raised concern about growing cases of pelvic organ prolapse3 outstripping obstetric fistula.
A backlog of nearly 600 women with prolapse are awaiting surgery at the centre, according to its chief medical director, Dr Sunday-Ileogben Adeoye.
That’s after some 532 were operated on to correct the condition.
A fistula is an abnormal hole in the vagina, which surgeons have been repairing in thousands of women since 2008, but a prolapse occurs when a pelvic organ like the bladder drops from its normal place and pushes against the wall of the vagina.
Many prolapses happen when muscles holding pelvic organs in place in the lower belly become weak or stretched from childbirth or surgery.
Some of the women awaiting surgery for prolapse at the centre have their uterus pushing out between their legs.
NOFIC, which started as a fistula centre, has since begun a prolapse repair programme because it has become “burdened with more prolapse than fistula,” said Adeoye.
He spoke as officials of US Agency for International Development, which funds fistula-related surgery, care, prevention and rehabilitation through a five-year Fistula Care Plus project toured the 90-bed hospital in Abakaliki.