2019 Volume 46 Issue 3 Pages 237-241
Purpose: The authors had the impression that the vaginal wall was thickened in patients with pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence on abdominal ultrasonography. Therefore, we tried to measure the thickness of the vaginal wall by transabdominal ultrasonography in urological outpatients with or without pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence. Subjects and Methods: Among female patients who visited our urology outpatient clinics, patients whose anterior and posterior vaginal wall thickness (vaginal thickness) could be retrospectively measured from median longitudinal section photogram of transabdominal ultrasonography in the supine position were included in the study. Overactive bladder patients and patients with cystitis were assigned to the control group, and the relationship between vaginal thickness and age was compared. Vaginal thickness was also compared among the control group, the pelvic organ prolapse group, and the stress urinary incontinence group. Results: There were 178 cases in the control group, with an age of 64.6±18.4 years (mean±standard deviation) and mean vaginal thickness of 9.2±2.7 mm. There was no relation between age and vaginal thickness. There were 76 cases (65.1±9.2 years old) in the pelvic organ prolapse group, and their mean vaginal thickness (14.7±4.4 mm) was significantly higher than that of the control group. Three months after surgery using a mesh sheet for pelvic organ prolapse, the mean vaginal thickness decreased. There were 12 cases (65.1±12.0 years old) in the stress urinary incontinence group, and their mean vaginal thickness (14.7±4.4 mm) was significantly higher than that of the control group, but it did not differ before and 3 months after surgery using mesh tape. Conclusion: Vaginal thickening indicates loading in the vagina, suggesting that there is pelvic organ prolapse or stress urinary incontinence, which may be useful for diagnosis of these diseases.
