Outcomes of Transvaginal Anterior Levatorplasty with Posterior Colporrhaphy for Symptomatic Rectocele

OBJECTIVES: To clarify the long-term outcomes of transvaginal anterior levatorplasty with posterior colporrhaphy for symptomatic rectocele with defecographic changes. METHODS: Consecutive patients undergoing transvaginal anterior levatorplasty with posterior colporrhaphy for symptomatic rectocele were prospectively registered and retrospectively reviewed using medical records. Symptoms, fecal incontinence, and defecographic findings were evaluated before and after surgery. RESULTS: Fifty-seven women (mean age, 68 years) were identified, and the median disease duration was 24 months. Symptoms of vaginal mass (n = 32) and difficult defecation (n = 21) disappeared (90.6% and 71.4%, respectively) or improved (6.3% and 28.6%, respectively) after surgery. However, the feeling of residual stool was unchanged in two of eight patients. Seventeen patients who performed digitation on defecation before surgery discontinued digitation after surgery. The proportion of patients who had fecal incontinence preoperatively (40.4%) decreased significantly after surgery (17.5%) during a median follow-up period of 47 months. Defecography revealed a disappearance or improvement of rectocele in all 18 patients examined. The average rectocele size decreased significantly in six improved patients (p = 0.0006, paired t-test). CONCLUSIONS: Transvaginal anterior levatorplasty with posterior colporrhaphy for symptomatic rectocele was a useful option to improve symptoms and anatomical disorders in the long term, but it had limitations in improving defecatory symptoms.