What is single-port laparoscopic vaginal sacral fixation?

Uterine prolapse occurs when the uterus descends or prolapses from its normal position along the vagina, when the external cervical opening reaches below the level of the sciatic spine, or even when the uterus prolapses completely beyond the vaginal opening. It is now widely recognized that pelvic organ prolapse originates from injury to the pelvic support structures: including injury to the myofascia, muscle dysfunction secondary to nerve injury, and/or both. The goal of surgery is to restore the normal anatomical position of the uterus and vagina, to provide pelvic floor support, to relieve symptoms, and to improve urination, defecation, and sexual function. Surgery can be performed with either autologous tissue or artificial patches. Traditionally, the uterus is usually maintained in its normal position by suturing and suspension with autologous tissue, but the recurrence rate of this procedure is high due to the laxity of the pelvic floor tissues in most patients with uterine prolapse. Synthetic patches make up for this shortcoming, greatly increasing the success rate of the procedure and decreasing the recurrence rate. Currently, it is a mesh polypropylene fiber material sutured between the sacral promontory and vaginal vault and suspended to restore and maintain the normal position of the uterus. In the following, we will introduce single-port laparoscopic vaginal sacral fixation. Surgical steps 1, surgical access: take the umbilical hole near the incision of about 2.5cm incision rectus abdominis muscle sheath; through the umbilical hole into the single-port multi-access and several 5mm Trocar. placed into the 5mm lens can be bent. 2. Separate the vaginal fornix: insert the uterine lifter, or use the oval forceps to hold the lifting sponge to the posterior vaginal fornix to help maintain the position of the fornix. Incise and separate the uterine bladder reflex peritoneum and push down the bladder. Incise and separate the uterorectal reflex peritoneum, and select the non-vascularized area in the broad ligament at the level of the cervix for separation to fully expose the vaginal part of the cervix. 3.Separation of sacral promontory: the ultrasonic knife cuts and separates the anterior peritoneum of the sacral promontory, exposing the sacral promontory (note: the blood vessels here are dense, and it should be exact to stop bleeding during the separation process, or avoid the blood vessels in the middle of the sacral region; in case of hemorrhage, it will be difficult to locate the bleeding blood vessels due to the vascular contracture, resulting in difficulty in stopping the hemorrhage). 4.Placement of the patch:The patch is cut out in a Y-shape and sent into the abdominal cavity through a single orifice of the abdominal wall with multiple pathways. 5. Fixation of the patch: non-absorbable sutures should be used to fix the Y-shaped patch between the vaginal vault and the sacral promontory, and the two short arms of the Y-shaped patch should be sutured respectively to the pubocervical fascia and the uterorectal fascia, with 4-6 symmetrical sutures from far to near, respectively. Finally, 6~8 stitches were reinforced between the vaginal vault and the uterorectal fossa fascia. the long arm of the Y-shaped patch was sutured to the anterior longitudinal ligament in front of the sacrum, keeping a moderate suspension tension can be maintained, do not over-tighten or over-loosen. 6, supplemental peritonization: the implanted patch needs to be buried into the peritoneum of the right pelvic wall for peritonization, to close the dead space and prevent intestinal insertion. Open the peritoneum of the right posterior wall of the uterorectal fossa until the surface of the anterior longitudinal ligament, bury the suspended patch, and close the peritoneum with absorbable sutures continuously or intermittently to complete the peritonization. 7, Tips: this procedure is easy to damage the bladder, ureter, rectum, intraoperative operation must be fine operation, carefully explore whether there is damage to these organs, if necessary, suture repair. For bleeding, it is recommended to use ultrasonic knife and hemostatic clip to stop bleeding quickly. For more intraoperative suturing and knotting, extracorporeal knotting techniques can be used. Reduce the time and difficulty of surgery.