Health regulator takes step towards lifting vaginal mesh implant ban

Vaginal mesh implants have been paused in England

Vaginal mesh implants have been linked to painful complications

Emily Critchfield/Duke Health

The UK health regulator has taken the first step towards NHS England lifting a temporary ban on the use of vaginal mesh implants.

The implants are used to treat incontinence and prolapse in women, often after childbirth. Their use was paused last year to allow for a safety review, after women reported severe pain and complications. Around one in ten recipients have had complications within five years of surgery, according to one study.

Now the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has said the ban could be lifted if certain conditions are met. These include establishing a national database to record procedures and complications, and that only specialist surgeons at specialist centres undertake the surgery.

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The guidelines also recommend that people are offered booklets, called “decision aids”, that clearly set out the possible risks of vaginal mesh implants. Women who opt for surgery over physical therapies should be warned that the implants may cause pain, including during sex.

But campaigners say the new guidelines aren’t materially different from ones published 16 years ago. “They are so weak, they clear the way for the next generation of women to be harmed,” Kath Sansom of Sling The Mesh said in a statement.

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source: newscientist.com