Laparoscopic ventral rectopexy plus sacral colpopexy: continuous locked suture for mesh fixation. A randomized clinical trial.

Purpose: Laparoscopic ventral rectopexy (LVR) plus sacral colpopexy (LSC) is a high-complexity surgical procedure. The aim of the present study was to evaluate a new approach to rectal-mesh fixation during LVR with continuous locked suture.

Methods: This is a prospective randomized double-blinded clinical trial enrolling 80 patients with severe POP and obstructed defecation syndrome (ODS) from November 2016 to January 2021. Patients underwent a "two-meshes" LSC plus LVR and were randomized, regarding rectal mesh fixation, in Group A (extracorporeal interrupted 0 delayed absorbable sutures) and Group B ("U-shaped" running locked 0 delayed absorbable suture). Our primary endpoints were the operative times (OT); the secondary endpoints were the incidence of anatomical failures, vaginal mesh erosions and surgical complications.

Results: A total of 75 patients completed the study. Baseline characteristics were similar between the groups. Overall OT (156 vs 138 min; p < 0.05; treatment reduction of 11.5%) and LVR mesh fixation time (29 vs 16 min; p < 0.05; treatment reduction of 44%), resulted in significantly lower in Group B. No differences were found in terms of anatomic failure, vaginal mesh erosion or intra- or post-operative complications. PGI-I, FSDS and Wexner questionnaires resulted significantly improved after surgery, without statistical differences between the studied surgical procedures.

Conclusion: Laparoscopic continuous locked 0 absorbable suture for LVR mesh fixation guaranteed a faster and effective alternative to multiple interrupted sutures. The significant OT reduction linked to this technique should be considered even more helpful when performing a highly complex surgery such as LVR.

Clinical Trial Registration: NCT05254860 (13/02/2017).