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Pelvic organ prolapse occurs when the muscles and ligaments that hold pelvic organs (reproductive organs, urinary bladder, ureter, rectum) in place are stretched or weakened, and the organs slip out of their normal position in your lower belly - they prolapse.

Pelvic organ prolapse often is associated with labor and vaginal childbirth. It also can be related to prior pelvic surgery (including hysterectomy), obesity, constipation, or long-term respiratory problems with a chronic cough.

The type of prolapse depends on the organs that are involved. Organs that may be involved in pelvic organ prolapse include the bladder (the bladder prolapses into the vagina, called cystocele), urethra (urethrocele), small bowel (enterocele), rectum (rectocele), uterus (uterine prolapse), vagina (vaginal vault prolapse).

For some women, pelvic organ prolapse becomes a really uncomfortable problem. It is not always a progressive condition and for a small number of women it may improve over time. Your doctor may try treating it with medications and/or physical therapy, especially if you are not finished having children. The pessary is most commonly used in the management of cystocele and rectocele. A pessary is a small medical device which is inserted into the vagina or rectum and held in place by the pelvic floor musculature and helps to stabilize the area. While any of these options may provide a temporary fix, most often surgery to anchor the organs in place becomes the eventual solution.

Tags: cystocele, enterocele, pelvic organs, prolapse, retocele, urethocele, uterine prolapse, vaginal vault

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2012 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Mommy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.