Commentary to “Defining normal apical vaginal support: a relook at the POSST study”

Excerpt

The Pelvic Organ Support Study (POSST) looked at 1011 women presenting for a routine annual gynecologic examination who were asked to complete a prolapse symptom questionnaire and underwent a Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) examination [1]. At the time of the original publication in 2005, data was analyzed on the group as a whole, regardless of symptomatology, and differences between point C for cuff versus point C for cervix and intra-quartile ranges were not determined. The purpose of the study by Patnam et al is to reanalyze data from the original 2005 POSST retrospective data set looking to better define normal values for point C (vaginal cuff), point C (cervix), point D, and total vaginal length (TVL). Mean age of eligible women (n = 948) >18 years of age presenting for annual gynecologic exams to six centers in the United States was 42 ± 14 years. …