Characteristics and surgical success of patients presenting for repair of obstetric fistula in western Kenya. Issue 2 (8th November 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Hawkins, Lesley; Spitzer, Rachel F.; Christoffersen‐Deb, Astrid; Leah, Jessica; Mabeya, Hillary
• Is Part Of: International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics. Volume 120:Issue 2(2013)
• Page Start: 178
• Page End: 182
• Publication Date: 2012-11-08
• Subjects: Low‐resource countries -- Obstetric fistula -- Obstetric labor complications -- Rectovaginal fistula -- Vesicovaginal fistula; Gynecology -- Periodicals; Obstetrics -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 618
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2012.08.014
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0020-7292

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To carry out a large‐scale retrospective review of patients who had undergone surgical repair of obstetric fistula in Kenya to determine patient characteristics and determinants of successful surgical repair. Methods: The patient records of 483 surgical repairs of obstetric fistula treated by a single surgeon (H.M.) between January 2005 and July 2010 at 3 medical centers in western Kenya were retrospectively reviewed. Descriptive and bivariate statistical analyses were performed. Results: Young women with some primary or no education and prolonged labor at the time of first delivery were most highly correlated with obstetric fistula formation. Success of fistula closure was 86% for first‐time vesicovaginal fistula (VVF) repairs and 67% for first‐time VVF combined with rectovaginal fistula (RVF) repairs. Among women who had previously attempted VVF or combined VVF/RVF repairs, 73% and 50% of fistulas, respectively, were repaired successfully. First‐time repair was significantly associated with surgical success compared with patients with a history of previous repair attempts ( P = 0.027). Conclusion: Among Kenyan women presenting for fistula repair, fistula most was most highly correlated with a low level of education and prolonged labor. The findings are consistent with results reported from other countries in Sub‐Saharan Africa.