High-tech mesh for pelvic prolapse

Australian researchers are developing a mesh that is covered in uterine cells (of the woman with the prolapse) to help put everything back together after trauma. Prolapse can occur after damage to the pelvic floor muscles, the structures that hold our pelvic organs – vagina, bladder, urethra, intestines, rectum – in place. These organs can fall into (and out of) the vaginal canal. This is called a Pelvic Organ Prolapse – POP for short.

The prolapse repair surgery using supportive mesh is called a sacrocolpopexy.

Globally, one in every 10 women will suffer a prolapse at some point, and in Australia, one in five will need surgery to correct it. The conventional prolapse surgery often isn’t adequate and does not completely solve the problem, so new solutions have had to be developed.

Mesh for pelvic prolapse

Mesh for prolapse isn’t new, but this high-tech type of mesh is.

Mesh has been used for a while, using synthetic materials, however infection has been an issue, as well as damaging the tissue in the process. Once tissue is degraded, it’s hard to grow back – up to a third of all POP surgeries have complications. The complication rate is very high, and the physical and psychological cost of these failures on these women is very traumatic. Chronic pain is a very real outcome of a failed mesh treatment.

The high-tech Aussie mesh invention

This type of mesh is designed to support the internal organs using a unique synthetic mesh matrix that is coated in uterine cells of the patient. This extra layer of biological material helps the mesh be accepted and integrated into the tissue lining.

The mesh is being developed for all women, with any and all lifestyles in mind. The mesh needs to act just like human tissue would – you need to be able to cough, run, and have penetrative sex, which means Pearcy (the super-computer) has his work cut out for him.

The new mesh is being developed with Monash University and CSIRO in Australia, using CSIRO’s Pearcy to do the calculations involved. The CSIRO in Australia (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) is an independent Australian federal government agency responsible for scientific research.