SynthesisThe patient2022
Women's Experiences of and Perspectives on Transvaginal Mesh Surgery for Stress Urine Incontinency and Pelvic Organ Prolapse: A Qualitative Systematic Review.
Synthesis in The patient, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pain and other complications of pelvic mesh: a systematic review of qualitative studies and thematic synthesis of women's accounts.BMJ open · 2024Pooled it
- Concerns and Goals of Women with Isolated Mesh-Associated Pain Syndrome Accessing a Quaternary Mesh Referral Service: A Thematic Analysis.International urogynecology journal · 2026Article
- A qualitative study to inform the development of a new quality of life measure for surgery for prolapse, incontinence and mesh complications.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Article
- Developing items for inclusion in a new pain-specific patient-reported outcome measure for pelvic floor surgery: a mixed-methods study.Health and quality of life outcomes · 2025Article
- Distinct microbiome profiles on vaginally inserted polypropylene midurethral mesh slings compared to vaginal, urinary, and skin microbiomes.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Patients' Perceptions of Stress Urinary Incontinence Treatment: A Scoping Review of Qualitative Studies.International urogynecology journal · 2025Article
- Extent, transparency and impact of industry funding for pelvic mesh research: a review of the literature.Research integrity and peer review · 2024Article
- Patients' perspectives on quality and patient safety failures: lessons learned from an inquiry into transvaginal mesh in Australia.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Review
- Exploring the experiences of people with urogynaecology conditions in the UK: a reflexive thematic analysis and conceptual model.BMC women's health · 2023Article
- Transvaginal mesh in Australia: An analysis of news media reporting from 1996 to 2021.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2023Article
- The experience of women reporting damage from vaginal mesh: a reflexive thematic analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTrans Vaginal Mesh (TVM) surgeries have been used to treat stress urine incontinency (SUI) and/or pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Systematic reviews of clinical studies of outcomes suggest that the procedures have benefited a majority of women, while noting that a small minority of women have experienced harms. To provide a more complete picture of outcomes, we conducted a systematic review of the qualitative literature to provide a comprehensive analysis of women's own accounts of their experience.
methodWe conducted a systematic review and thematic synthesis of the evidence from the international qualitative literature on women's experiences of and perspectives on TVM surgery for SUI and/or POP between 1996 and 2020. We retrieved 6587 papers from PubMed, Cochrane, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Sociological Abstracts. After application of inclusion and exclusion criteria and full-text review of eligible articles, five articles were included in our systematic review.
resultsFindings from included articles were organised under three main themes: women's everyday lives were transformed by TVM surgery; women's expectations of and approach to their future lives; and women's critiques of TVM surgery. The transformation of women's everyday lives included a struggle to obtain recognition and support for their injuries before and after corrective surgery, ongoing limitations on their social, professional and personal lives, and compounding medical and psychological trauma as a result. Women's approaches to their future lives changed because of this transformation; we identified five main approaches, four were ways of accommodating change, a fifth involved being unable to accommodate life changes. Women's critiques included that TVM surgeries were overused, consent processes were poor, and surgeons' definitions of success were deficient. Women expressed concerns about the safety of TVM products and future risks of further complications and discussed multiple system failures in the health care they received.
conclusionThis review suggests that discounting women's experiences has caused compound trauma and skewed the clinical evidence base; while harms occurred in a minority of women, we suggest they should be recognised as an ethically significant potential outcome. Approaches to TVM injury should attend to historical epistemic injustice and recognise women's agency.
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