Call for U.K. public inquiry into vaginal mesh implants

Senior doctors in the U.K. have called for a public inquiry into the use of vaginal mesh surgery. This comes after growing concerns that patients who have undertaken the surgery have been scarred for life.

Vaginal mesh implants are a net-like implant usually made out of polypropylene plastic and are used to treat pelvic organ prolapse, and stress urinary incontinence in women who may have these conditions as a result of hysterectomy, menopause or childbirth.

The problems that can occur if the devices fail can be catastrophic.

The medical design of vaginal mesh implants has recently come into further scrutiny for its potentially serious side-effects, such as erosion of the vaginal tissue, infection and organ perforation. Though it’s not considered as a high-risk device, and many surgeons still use the device worldwide, many people have suffered serious and life-altering injuries form their use.

There is a suggestion that there hasn’t been enough scientific research into these devices, and the skill of surgeons implanting them has been flagged as a concern.

Case study

Reportedly, thousands of women in the U.K. have suffered severe adverse effects following from the transvaginal mesh implants.

Dawn Martin (55) is one patient who decided to have the transvaginal mesh implant after having four children over five years in her 20s. She found her urinary incontinence was worsening over time, and when she heard about the surgery, she leaped at the chance.

After having the procedure, she noted that “it felt like broken glass down there.” After months of not being able to urinate without chronic pain, doctors agreed for the mesh to be removed. It wasn’t until after a year later that the mesh was removed. Doctors found that the mesh had shrunk and had cut through her urethra into her bladder. Though the mesh has been removed, she still suffers from health problems.

Ms Martin is only one out 126,000 (approx.) women who had the vaginal mesh implants from 2007 to 2016 in England. Hundreds of women have taken legal action against the NHS and vaginal mesh manufacturers, including Johnson and Johnson.

Statistics

A 2012 Department of Health report found that approximately 15% of women who have had the procedure have suffered complications.

Carl Heneghan, professor at the University of Oxford, compared this situation with the thalidomide scandal (a drug that intended to help with morning sickness but led to children being born without limbs). Mr Heneghan noted that, although the mesh implants are used to treat complications from childbirth, the procedures carry a reportedly greater risk than what the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) official figures and reports suggest.

Mr Heneghan continued:

“With thalidomide you could see the visual representation. [With mesh] you can’t see it. We should have a public inquiry.”

Further statistics show the reportedly “real risk” of the vaginal mesh implant surgery. Sohier Elneilm, a consultant urogynaecologist at University College Hospital, suggested in his research that urinary incontinence surgery has a readmission rate of 8.9%. Of the 8.9%, most of these patients require some form of surgery to rectify the issue.

In a recent Lancet report, figures showed that the readmission rate for one type of mesh surgery for prolapse was 19%.

Settlement offers in the U.S.

In 2016, a group of companies, including Coloplast and Caldera Medical, have agreed to pay out $11.75 million (£9 million) in a class-action settlement including 2,000 individuals in California.

It’s about time that the U.K. came up to speed with the U.S.