A Comprehensive Evaluation of Sexual Life in Women After Laparoscopic Sacrocolpopexy using PISQ-IR.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Although laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy is a recommended procedure for sexually active women, its full impact on sexual life remains underexplored. This study is aimed at comprehensively assessing changes in the quality of sexual life and the prevalence of dyspareunia in women 1 year after laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy. METHODS: This prospective observational study enrolled women undergoing laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy for pelvic organ prolapse stage≥ 2. Included were women with a completed Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire, IUGA Revised (PISQ-IR) questionnaire before and at 1 year after surgery. Individual domains of the PISQ-IR were compared separately. Dyspareunia, single summary PISQ-IR and PISQ-12 scores were additionally compared in sexually active women. Statistical analyses included paired signed rank, Wilcoxon, Median, Chi-squared, and Fisher tests (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Between February 2015 and December 2019, a total of 333 women were included. Mean age was 61.0 ± 11.2 and 141 (42%) reported being sexually active at baseline. At 12 months postoperatively, sexual activity was preserved in 110 (78%) of these women and an additional 26 women (14%) became sexually active. Both single-summary PISQ-IR (3.4 vs 3.6, p < 0.01) and PISQ-12 (36.0 vs 38.1, p < 0.01) scores increased significantly. The only variable that was associated with deteriorated scores postoperatively was a higher BMI. Individual domain analyses revealed significant improvement in condition-specific and condition-impact domains, except for the desire domain, which deteriorated. Prevalence of dyspareunia decreased post-surgery from 21.8% to 16.4%, p < 0.05. Newly sexually active women were older, had shorter vaginal length preoperatively, but lower PISQ-IR scores postoperatively than sexually inactive women pre- and postoperatively. Women ceasing sexual activity were older and had lower preoperative PISQ-IR scores than sexually active women pre- and postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Although the overall rate of sexually active women and sexual desire declined 12 months after sacrocolpopexy, overall sexual function scores improved and the prevalence of dyspareunia decreased.

Sex-specific and opposed effects of FKBP51 in glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons: Implications for stress susceptibility and resilience.

Mental health disorders often arise as a combination of environmental and genetic factors. The FKBP5 gene, encoding the GR co-chaperone FKBP51, has been uncovered as a key genetic risk factor for stress-related illness. However, the exact cell type and region-specific mechanisms by which FKBP51 contributes to stress resilience or susceptibility processes remain to be unravelled. FKBP51 functionality is known to interact with the environmental risk factors age and sex, but so far data on behavioral, structural, and molecular consequences of these interactions are still largely unknown. Here we report the cell type- and sex-specific contribution of FKBP51 to stress susceptibility and resilience mechanisms under the high-risk environmental conditions of an older age, by using two conditional knockout models within glutamatergic (Fkbp5Nex) and GABAergic (Fkbp5Dlx) neurons of the forebrain. Specific manipulation of Fkbp51 in these two cell types led to opposing effects on behavior, brain structure and gene expression profiles in a highly sex-dependent fashion. The results emphasize the role of FKBP51 as a key player in stress-related illness and the need for more targeted and sex-specific treatment strategies.

Contribution of the co-chaperone FKBP51 in the ventromedial hypothalamus to metabolic homeostasis in male and female mice.

OBJECTIVE: Steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1) expressing neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) have been directly implicated in whole-body metabolism and in the onset of obesity. The co-chaperone FKBP51 is abundantly expressed in the VMH and was recently linked to type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance, adipogenesis, browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) and bodyweight regulation. METHODS: We investigated the role of FKBP51 in the VMH by conditional deletion and virus-mediated overexpression of FKBP51 in SF1-positive neurons. Baseline and high fat diet (HFD)-induced metabolic- and stress-related phenotypes in male and female mice were obtained. RESULTS: In contrast to previously reported robust phenotypes of FKBP51 manipulation in the entire mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH), selective deletion or overexpression of FKBP51 in the VMH resulted in only a moderate alteration of HFD-induced bodyweight gain and body composition, independent of sex. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study shows that animals lacking and overexpressing Fkbp5 in Sf1-expressing cells within the VMH display only a mild metabolic phenotype compared to an MBH-wide manipulation of this gene, suggesting that FKBP51 in SF1 neurons within this hypothalamic nucleus plays a subsidiary role in controlling whole-body metabolism.

Contribution of ultrasound examination in the detection of unexpected uterine and adnexal findings in reconstructive surgery for pelvic organ prolapse.

Objective: Current urogynaecology practice allows preservation of the uterus in pelvic organ prolapse (POP) surgery, thus not reducing oncologic risk. AIM: The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound (USG) in dia-gnosing unexpected uterine and adnexal pathologies in women referred for POP. Furthermore, the benefit of USG examination by a specialist in gynaecology-oncology ultrasound was assessed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All women after a hysterectomy with or without adnexectomy in the course of a POP surgery at our tertiary centre in 2013-2018 with preoperative USG were enrolled in the study. Women with recurrent uterine bleeding, abnormal cytology, using tamoxifen, or women with already dia-gnosed uterine or adnexal pathology were excluded. RESULTS: 289 women were enrolled in the study - 157 (54.3%) expert USG vs. 132 (45.7%) non-expert USG. Abnormal findings were observed on the cervix in one case (non-expert USG), the endometrium 30 (10.4%) cases - 13 (8.3%) expert vs. 17 (12.9%) non-expert USG, the adnexa three (2.3%) cases (all non-expert USG), and no suspicion of malignancy on myometrium was observed. USG was false negative in four (1.4%) cases - two (1.3%) expert vs. two (1.5%) non-expert USG. Conversely, the examination was false positive in 34 (11.8%) cases - 13 (8.3%) expert vs. 21 (15.9%) non-expert USG. CONCLUSION: The risk of unexpected uterine or adnexal pathologies in POP surgery was 1.4%. The agreement between USG and histopathological benign, abnormal or malign findings was 87.2%. A sonographer specialized in oncologic sonography is able to reduce the number of false positive findings; however, this does not increase the sensitivity of the ultrasound.

Trans-obturator cystocele repair of level 2 paravaginal defect.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: It is reported that almost one in five women will need some form of pelvic organ prolapse surgery in their lifetime, with anterior wall repair accounting for nearly half of these. Cystoceles occur secondary to defect(s) in one or more of the vaginal wall support mechanisms, including its lateral paravaginal attachments. Paravaginal defects are very common in women presenting with cystocele, thus highlighting the importance of paravaginal defect repair for optimal cystocele correction in the majority of cases. Although there are several paravaginal defect repair procedures, some entail complex techniques, whereas others rely on the use of transvaginal mesh, which is currently not permitted in many countries. METHODS: In this video article we present a novel trans-obturator native tissue paravaginal defect repair for the management of cystocele. RESULTS: This procedure has the advantages of avoiding complex transabdominal paravaginal defect repair, the controversial use of transvaginal mesh, or a single-point fixation to an arcus tendineus fasciae pelvis that might be difficult to identify. CONCLUSION: We believe that the trans-obturator cystocele repair procedure offers several advantages over existing paravaginal defect repair alternatives.