ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Minerva Ginecologica 2002 April;54(2):161-70

Copyright © 2002 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: Italian

A new method of neovagina in Rokitansky’s syndrome. A review of the literature and description of a series

Grio R., Ambroggio G. P., D’Addato F., Bello L., Leotta E., Tersiev P., Febo G., Tessarolo M., Lanza A.

Background. The absence or hypoplasia of the vagina is a frequent finding in Rokitansky-Mayer-Küster-Hauser syndrome.
Methods. A group of 13 patients with Rokitansky-Mayer-Küster-Hauser syndrome were treated between 1982 and December 2001 at the Plastic Surgery Department of C.T.O. (Turin) and the 2nd Obstetrics-Gynecology Clinic of Turin University. Surgery was the proposed therapy in all patients, using a modified version of the McIndoe technique.
Results. In this series, the cytological tests of neovaginal tissue carried out one year after surgery showed a syndrome of slight atrophy in 8 cases, but this was not sufficient to impede the sexual activity of these patients. Two patients were lost in the follow-up; 3 patients declared that they were ''reasonably satisfied'' with their sex life, whereas the remaining 8 reported a normal sex life.
Conclusions. The treatment of choice for complete vaginal agenesia is a neovagina using the skin graft method. This technique produces excellent anatomical results, especially in young patients, even without regular dilatation or frequent sexual relationships. The only drawback of this method is that the vagina tends to retract in some patients, a problem that has been largely solved by the most recently proposed surgical variants.