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Ethicon 8/3
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New treatments can help women suffering from pelvic floor disorders
Jul 31, 2015 | Kentucky.com
By Dr. Magdalene Karon
Pelvic floor disorders are a group of conditions characterized by weakness and sagging of the bladder, uterus, vaginal walls and other surrounding tissues. -
Four Years of News on Pelvic and Hernia Mesh Problems
Aug 1, 2015 | Mesh Medical Device News desk
By Jane Akre
...This is not just a U.S. problem as we export our mesh products globally and the number of pelvic mesh injured women rises to one hundred thousand lawsuits globally...
Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel
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New treatments can help women suffering from pelvic floor disorders
Jul 31, 2015 | Kentucky.com
By Dr. Magdalene Karon
Pelvic floor disorders are a group of conditions characterized by weakness and sagging of the bladder, uterus, vaginal walls and other surrounding tissues. About one in four women is affected by these disorders, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Pregnancy and childbirth can often cause these conditions, especially in women who had a difficult delivery or delivered a larger baby. They are also more common in older women, affecting more than 40 percent of women between the ages of 60 and 79, and about 50 percent of women 80 and older. As women age, years of lifting and other strenuous activities, along with the decline in hormones that comes with menopause, can take a toll on these tissues. Other women may simply be more prone to these disorders and unable to pinpoint a specific cause.
Symptoms of pelvic floor disorders include pain and discomfort in the pelvic area, pain during intercourse and incontinence. Women may experience bladder leaks during exercise or when they laugh, cough or sneeze.
While pelvic floor disorders are very common, many women do not seek treatment — especially older women. They may be ashamed or view their symptoms as a part of the aging process and choose to wear incontinence pads and adult diapers rather than mention it to their doctors. Generally, younger women won't tolerate the symptoms and will often approach their physicians with their own research into possible solutions.
One of the common treatments for pelvic floor disorders is synthetic transvaginal mesh. These treatments, however, were developed for hernias in the abdominal wall, not specifically for vaginal use, and can cause serious complications for many patients, including erosion, infection, bleeding and pain.
The latest advancement in procedures to treat pelvic floor disorders is the biologic patch, which encourages tissue to regenerate using the patient's own stem cells. This has proven to be a much safer and more effective approach than synthetic mesh, which relies on scar formation. In fact, many women who have experienced complications with synthetic mesh are now having it removed and replaced with biologic patches.
Another treatment is known as the Burch procedure, in which the surgeon places sutures to suspend the sagging bladder. This can be done with robot-assisted surgery, a type of laparoscopic surgery that results in fewer complications and reduced recovery time.
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Four Years of News on Pelvic and Hernia Mesh Problems
Aug 1, 2015 | Mesh Medical Device News desk
By Jane Akre
Happy Birthday to Mesh News Desk. Four years old this month began the journey. From 2,500 mesh injury cases then, there are now more than 80,500 filed in one court, hernia and pelvic mesh problems continue to mount as does mesh litigation. To add to these staggering numbers, pelvic and hernia mesh is still used and even referred to by some as the “Gold Standard” despite the evidence that in some folks, it is a nightmare.
This is not just a U.S. problem as we export our mesh products globally and the number of pelvic mesh injured women rises to one hundred thousand lawsuits globally.
The pelvic mesh problems continue to rise but solutions are few. Settlements are paltry and clearly do not address the scope of the problem for today, much less into the future.
Want to learn more? Please don’t hesitate to use the SEARCH BAR on Page One upper Right Hand corner to enter your inquiry. See the About Us page to see how we work.
When Mesh News Desk (aka Mesh Medical Device News Desk) began four years ago, multidistrict litigation (MDL) was about to be created. The MDL amassed all similar cases in one court to prepare them for trial – in this case federal court in Charleston, West Virginia before Judge Joseph Goodwin.
A lot has changed since then. There are now over 80,500 transvaginal mesh cases filed before Judge Goodwin who has a mountain of mesh mess before him. How to get through it is the challenge and no judge has ever had so many cases in one court. You will be hearing a lot about settlement efforts and the numbers. Women are told by their law firms to wait out a settlement. Unfortunately, those numbers do not approximate anywhere near what the mesh survivors have lost – their health, their jobs, their homes, their husbands, pain and suffering, future losses, lost time with children and families that can never be retrieved.
As a publisher, Mesh News Desk will do what it can to provide information to empower those injured. This is not intended to substitute for advice from your law firm (your editor is not a lawyer or a doctor) but there are far too many stories of law firms failing to communicate with their clients. Some women have never talked to their firms and have no idea if their case has been filed!
Mesh News Desk can help bridge that gap by publishing news releases that speak to many- on average 5,000 to 10,000 readers a day. Law firms might consider running a PR release here to reach a niche audience of readers. Sponsored content will be labeled as such. An advertiser based business model keep this effort alive!
Increasingly this site has become about the reader and all submissions that have sources linked where applicable or express your opinion are welcome.
PayPal donations are much appreciated. See Page One. And donated travel miles will help pay for upcoming trials in 2015 which are always a way to gauge how the settlement winds are blowing. My co-editors appreciate it!
MND co-editors
Stay well everyone. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Let’s carry on shall we?
~ Jane Akre, Editor
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