A recent study from the University of Pittsburgh in Philadelphia has shown a strong connection between vaginal mesh and inflammation in patients.

What is a Vaginal Mesh?

Vaginal mesh procedures are used to treat pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence in women.

When vaginal mesh was first approved, both physicians and female patients alike welcomed this procedure as a discreet way of dealing with a very personal medical condition.

POP is a condition that when organs such as the bladder, top of the vagina, uterus, rectum or bowel descend from their normal position. This is caused by weakened pelvic muscles and is common in older women or as a result of pregnancy and childbirth.

Stress urinary incontinence is when the bladder is stressed by an everyday activity, such as sneezing or laughing. Because of this, the bladder leaks urine. The mesh procedure keeps the urethra and bladder neck closed during normal activities.

In a vaginal mesh procedure, the surgical mesh material is implanted to create a hammock-like structure to support the drooping organs. After time, the body’s tissue grows around the mesh to keep it stable and support the surrounding organs.

However, vaginal mesh has been shown to have some severe complications.

Vaginal Mesh and Inflammation

Vaginal mesh implants have been reported to tear and cause internal organ damage. Some patients have also reported tissue infection, mesh erosion, device failure, debilitating pain and organ prolapse.

When the mesh erodes or extrudes into nearby organs, it can lead to bleeding, pain during sex and urinary problems.

The FDA received 1,000 adverse event reports regarding vaginal mesh between 2005 and 2007. These adverse events included complications, injuries and even death.

This caught the attention of the FDA and in October 2008, the FDA began studying the medical device. In the following 2 years, almost 3,000 vaginal mesh injury reports were submitted to the FDA.

The FDA then issued a public safety update noting that vaginal mesh complications were not rare and then in 2012, considered reclassifying the device as a high-risk device.

And more recently, a vaginal mesh and inflammation study has shown a strong connection between the implantation of vaginal mesh and inflammation.

Alexis L. Nolfi, a researcher from the University of Pittsburgh in Philadelphia, and other colleagues compared vaginal samples from 27 vaginal mesh removals due to pain to 30 samples from women who did not have vaginal mesh.

The study looked at macrophage response to the implanted surgical mesh. A macrophage is a type of white blood cell that digests certain foreign substances and other things in the body. Essentially, the existence of increased macrophages indicate inflammation.

The vaginal mesh and inflammation study found that more inflammation occurred in women who had vaginal mesh.

“In women with complications, mesh induces a proinflammatory response that persists years after implantation,” the authors of the study wrote.