The importance of the endopelvic fascia repair during vaginal hysterectomy.

During 1985 to 1989, 177 vaginal hysterectomies were performed in the Department of Gynecology, Kaplan Hospital, Rehovot, Israel, using the Porges technique with some modifications. Ninety patients had some degree of loss of the pelvic support--anterior or posterior wall relaxation, enterocele or uterine prolapse in various degrees. The patients were allocated to two groups, in which two different techniques were compared: group 1, with repair of the pubocervical and pararectal fascia and group 2 without the repair. The repair of the pubocervical and pararectal fascia after vaginal hysterectomy prevented vaginal vault prolapse (zero versus 15 percent, p < 0.01) and reduced the incidence of recurrent rectocele (23 versus 55 percent, p < 0.05) and recurrent cystocele (14 versus 45 percent, p < 0.005). Recurrent genuine stress incontinence was found in 9 percent of patients in group 1 and 18 percent of patients in group 2 (not statistically significant; p = 0.163). Optimal management of relaxation of the vaginal wall during vaginal hysterectomy requires clinical suspicion and precise preoperative diagnosis and therapeutic plan. In the present study, the need for careful repair of the pubocervical and pararectal fascia during vaginal hysterectomy to prevent vaginal vault prolapse is emphasized. This procedure does not prolong the operation significantly (92 +/- 15 versus 84 +/- 17 minutes) and has no deleterious postoperative complications.