Why do doctors often recommend hysterectomy as part of the repair for prolapse?
I think it is true that most doctors will include hysterectomy (if all childbearing desire is done) in their recommendations for pelvic prolapse surgery. Scientific studies have not adequately addressed whether removing the uterus makes prolapse surgery any more or less successful than when the uterus is left except in the case of genuine stress incontinence. When genuine stress incontinence is present, loss of urine with coughing or sneezing, the support defect is called urethrocoele or loss of the urethrovesical angle. Studies have shown that correction of stress incontinence alone is neither more nor less successful if hysterectomy is performed (1). The bottom line is that hysterectomy DOES NOT need to be performed when fixing pelvic support defects. With support defects such as bladder dropping (cystocoele), rectal wall protrusion into and out of the vagina (rectocoele), cul-de-sac hernia (enterocoele), and uterine prolapse, there have not been any large surgical series reported in
