Do patients with central sensitivity syndromes have poor subjective outcomes despite anatomical cure from pelvic organ prolapse surgery?

introductionPelvic organ prolapse(POP) has an adverse impact on quality of life with lifetime risk of surgery varying from 11 to 20%. Conditions such as fibromyalgia (FMS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), collectively known as central sensitivity syndromes (CSS), may affect the outcome of POP surgery. The aim of this article is to compare the outcomes of vaginal POP surgery between women with and without CSS.

methodThis was a prospective cohort study. The validated Central Sensitisation Inventory (CSI) was used to identify women with CSS. Subjective and objective outcomes were compared between the two groups using POP-SS, Expectation and satisfaction/"EGGS", pain scores and the POP quantification system (POP-Q). A non-parametric test was used for analysis.

resultSeventy-eight women were recruited. Complete data were available in 62 patients; 23 patients had evidence of CSS and 39 did not. Women with CSS had significantly higher pre- and post-operative POP-SS scores than those without (p < 0.0005, p = 0.004). Seventeen (73.9%) women with CSS compared to 38 (97.4%) women without CSS demonstrated improvement of a minimum 6 points on the POP-SS scale; however, this was not stastically significant. McGill's pain scores were higher in women with CSS both pre- and post-surgery. Ninety-five per cent of women without CSS achieved their goals and were satisfied with the surgery compared to 69.5% of women with CSS (p < 005).

conclusionThere is a less favourable outcome of POP surgery in women with CSS compared to those without in terms of persistence of symptoms, pain and overall satisfaction.