Quality-Adjusted Life-Years Outcome 1 Year After Surgery by Robotics-Assisted Sacral Hystero-Colpopexy Versus Vaginal Mesh for Pelvic Organ Prolapse Repair

TL;DR

This study compares two surgical treatments for pelvic organ prolapse and finds both improve quality of life similarly over one year.

Contribution

The study provides a direct comparison of quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) for two prolapse repair methods using real patient data.

Findings

Both RASC and Uphold™ surgeries significantly improved health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) over one year.

Quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) gained were similar between the two surgical interventions.

Improvements in HR-QoL exceeded minimal important change thresholds for both procedures.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to compare the quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) attained 1 year after robotics-assisted sacral hystero-colpopexy (RASC) versus Uphold™ vaginal mesh surgery for pelvic organ prolapse repair.

This was a secondary analysis of a previously published cohort study. A total of 65 patients who underwent RASC and 71 who underwent the Uphold™ procedure completed the 15-dimensional (15D) and the EuroQol five-dimensional three-level (EQ-5D-3L) instruments measuring health-related quality of life (HR-QoL). All patients had symptomatic and anatomical apical prolapse (POP-Q C ≥ stage II) with or without other vaginal wall defects. Changes in HR-QoL instruments were calculated and compared with minimal important change (MIC) thresholds and QALYs gained were estimated for each intervention.

The 15D and EQ-5D-3L mean index scores were improved from preoperatively to 1 year after RASC ([0.88 ± 0.10 to 0.90 ± 0.01] and [0.85 ± 0.1 to 0.90 ± 0.1]) and after Uphold™= ([0.87 ± 0.1 to 0.89 ± 0.1] and [0.86 ± 0.1 to 0.93 ± 0.1], p 0.024 to p < 0.001) with no significant difference between cohorts. Prolapse-related 15D profile index measures, including discomfort, sexual activity, and distress were significantly improved after RASC (p = 0.039 to < 0.001), whereas excretion, discomfort, and sexual activity were significantly improved after the Uphold™ (p = 0.009 to < 0.001). The improvement in 15D scores from baseline to 1-year follow-up of + 0.026 for RASC and + 0.025 for Uphold™ exceeded the MIC, indicating meaningful improvements in patient quality of life. The overall 1-year QALY gain was estimated to be 0.90 ± 0.1 in the RASC and 0.88 ± 0.1 in the Uphold™ cohorts (p < 0.001), with no significant difference between the two interventions (p = 0.514).

The RASC and Uphold™ are both meaningful surgical treatments for prolapse, with significant improvement in the HR-QoL and the 1-year QALY gain and with no significant difference between the two surgeries.

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