Clinical trial NCT01644214: Extended Pessary Interval for Care (EPIC Study)
Official title: Extended Pessary Interval for Care (EPIC Study): Patient Preference for 3 Verus 6 Month Follow-up
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Pelvic Organ Prolapse
Pessary
Keywords: Pelvic organ prolapse
Pessary
Lead sponsor: Unity Health Toronto
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Women's College Hospital
name: Mount Sinai Hospital, Canada
First posted: 2012-07-19
Enrollment: 13
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: Objectives: Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common condition for which pessaries are commonly used in conservative treatment. Despite their prevalence, there is no literature to guide the management of pessaries. Our objective is to determine whether patients managed with a pessary for POP are more satisfied with follow-up at 3 or 6 month intervals and if there is any difference in complications rates between the two groups.

Hypothesis: The investigators hypothesize that there will be higher patient satisfaction in the group randomized to 6 month follow-up intervals and that there will be no difference in complication rates between the two follow-up groups.

Method: The investigators will conduct a prospective randomized control trial comparing patient satisfaction and complication rates between patients with pessaries randomized to either 3 or 6 month follow-up intervals over 1 year.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Females with POP who have opted for conservative management with a pessary
* Able to read and write English
* First time pessary users
* Successful fitting with a covered ring or Gellhorn pessary, as determined at the usual early follow-up visit 2-4 weeks after initial fitting (successful defined as: no expulsion on movement, squatting or valsalva, no urinary retention, no discomfort, and still retained pessary after 2 weeks)
* Patients agree to use vaginal estrogen (either tablet or cream twice weekly) during the study period; patients may not use a vaginal estrogen ring since this requires changing every 3 months, and will interfere with the study follow-up schedule

Exclusion criteria:

* Current presence of vaginal bleeding, vaginal abrasions or ulcers, or vaginal infection
* Significant cognitive impairment
* Pessary used for indication other than POP (ie. urinary incontinence)
* Use of a pessary that is not a covered ring or Gellhorn (i.e exclude cube, donut, etc.)
* Contraindications to vaginal estrogen
* Unsuccessful pessary fitting (successful defined as: no expulsion on movement, squatting or valsalva, no urinary retention, no discomfort, and still retained pessary after 2 weeks)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Patient satisfaction
timeFrame: At 6 months from study enrollment
measure: Patient satisfaction
timeFrame: At 12 months from study enrollment
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Pessary associated complications
timeFrame: Checked at all follow-up visits (3 and 6 months, depending on study group)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Toronto
country: Canada
facility: Women's College Hospital/Mount Sinai Hospital
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: St. Michael's Hospital, Women's College Hospital, University of Toronto
name: Colleen D McDermott, MD, FRCSC
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Samuelsson EC, Victor FT, Tibblin G, Svardsudd KF. Signs of genital prolapse in a Swedish population of women 20 to 59 years of age and possible related factors. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1999 Feb;180(2 Pt 1):299-305. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9378(99)70203-6.
citation: MacLennan AH, Taylor AW, Wilson DH, Wilson D. The prevalence of pelvic floor disorders and their relationship to gender, age, parity and mode of delivery. BJOG. 2000 Dec;107(12):1460-70. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2000.tb11669.x.
citation: Fernando RJ, Thakar R, Sultan AH, Shah SM, Jones PW. Effect of vaginal pessaries on symptoms associated with pelvic organ prolapse. Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Jul;108(1):93-9. doi: 10.1097/01.AOG.0000222903.38684.cc.
citation: Schaffer JI, Wai CY, Boreham MK. Etiology of pelvic organ prolapse. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2005 Sep;48(3):639-47. doi: 10.1097/01.grf.0000170428.45819.4e. No abstract available.
citation: Atnip SD. Pessary use and management for pelvic organ prolapse. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2009 Sep;36(3):541-63. doi: 10.1016/j.ogc.2009.08.010.
citation: Pott-Grinstein E, Newcomer JR. Gynecologists' patterns of prescribing pessaries. J Reprod Med. 2001 Mar;46(3):205-8.
citation: Thakar R, Stanton S. Management of genital prolapse. BMJ. 2002 May 25;324(7348):1258-62. doi: 10.1136/bmj.324.7348.1258. No abstract available.
citation: Sarma S, Ying T, Moore KH. Long-term vaginal ring pessary use: discontinuation rates and adverse events. BJOG. 2009 Dec;116(13):1715-21. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2009.02380.x.
citation: Powers K, Grigorescu B, Lazarou G, Greston WM, Weber T. Neglected pessary causing a rectovaginal fistula: a case report. J Reprod Med. 2008 Mar;53(3):235-7.
citation: Ko PC, Lo TS, Tseng LH, Lin YH, Liang CC, Lee SJ. Use of a pessary in treatment of pelvic organ prolapse: quality of life, compliance, and failure at 1-year follow-up. J Minim Invasive Gynecol. 2011 Jan-Feb;18(1):68-74. doi: 10.1016/j.jmig.2010.09.006.
citation: Lamers BH, Broekman BM, Milani AL. Pessary treatment for pelvic organ prolapse and health-related quality of life: a review. Int Urogynecol J. 2011 Jun;22(6):637-44. doi: 10.1007/s00192-011-1390-7. Epub 2011 Apr 7.
citation: Wu V, Farrell SA, Baskett TF, Flowerdew G. A simplified protocol for pessary management. Obstet Gynecol. 1997 Dec;90(6):990-4. doi: 10.1016/s0029-7844(97)00481-x.
citation: Gorti M, Hudelist G, Simons A. Evaluation of vaginal pessary management: a UK-based survey. J Obstet Gynaecol. 2009 Feb;29(2):129-31. doi: 10.1080/01443610902719813.
citation: Adams E, Thomson A, Maher C, Hagen S. Mechanical devices for pelvic organ prolapse in women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2004;(2):CD004010. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004010.pub2.
citation: Crandall C. Vaginal estrogen preparations: a review of safety and efficacy for vaginal atrophy. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2002 Dec;11(10):857-77. doi: 10.1089/154099902762203704.
citation: Bugge C, Adams EJ, Gopinath D, Stewart F, Dembinsky M, Sobiesuo P, Kearney R. Pessaries (mechanical devices) for managing pelvic organ prolapse in women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Nov 18;11(11):CD004010. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD004010.pub4.