PURPOSE: to identify the impact of pelvic reconstructive surgery on female sexual function, as well as the changes in vaginal anatomy, and to detect possible correlations between them. METHODS: a prospective, descriptive study, including 43 sexually active women with genital dystopy, undergoing surgery for pelvic organ prolapse, conducted between October 2004 and September 2006. The women completed the same multiple-choice questionnaire regarding sexual function, and analogic scales to quantify the degree of desire, arousal and satisfaction, and were clinically assessed using the pelvic organ prolapse quantification (POP-Q) staging system, before the surgery and three and six months after it. Statistical analysis was performed through the Bowker test for symmetry, Wilcoxon test, Student t test, chi2 and analysis of variance (ANOVA) as appropriate, with statistical significance set at 5% (p<0.05). RESULTS: all 43 women completed the follow-up at three and six months after the surgery, but two of them lost their partners after the surgery. Quality of sexual life improved significantly (p=0.03). Symptoms such as dyspareunia (25.6% before versus 17.1% after surgery), discomfort (27.9 versus 0%), embarrassment (20.9% versus 0%) and fear (2.3% versus 0%) significantly improved (p<0.001). Analogical scales scores regarding desire (5 versus 7, p=0.001), arousal (6 versus 8, p<0.001) and satisfaction with sexual life (5 versus 7, p<0.001) also improved. There was a statistically significant improvement (p<0.001) of the POP-Q stages after the surgery. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between changes in vaginal dimensions and changes in sexual function. CONCLUSIONS: after pelvic reconstructive surgery, there was a significant improvement in the quality of sexual life and of the POP-Q stages. However, there was no correlation between them.
Uterine prolapse; Vagina; Pelvic floor; Sexual behavior
