OVGH Offers Minimally Invasive Treatment Options
for Incontinence, Hysterectomy

Continued from home page

“At Ohio Valley General Hospital (OVGH), we are performing a special sling procedure, called a transvaginal tape sling, that has a 90 percent cure rate for stress incontinence,” explained Vladimir Nikiforouk, M.D. “It also has a 40 to 50 percent cure rate in women suffering from combined urge and stress incontinence.”
Urge incontinence is leakage of urine due to bladder muscles that contract inappropriately; stress incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine that occurs during physical activity, such as coughing, sneezing, laughing or exercise.
A transvaginal sling restores urinary function by returning a patient’s anatomy to its original position. Instead of making an abdominal incision, the sling is placed through a small incision in the vaginal area and two small tacks are placed in the pubic bone to hold the bladder neck. The sling remains in the body to provide support.
This minimally invasive procedure takes about 10 minutes to perform, and can be used as a treatment option for most women suffering from incontinence. “The sling procedure is much better than the traditional method of treating incontinence, which requires the surgeon to make a cut—similar to a traditional hysterectomy cut—on the patient,” said Dr. Nikiforouk. “Patients who have the traditional surgery have a higher risk of infection and complications and spend about six weeks recovering from the procedure.” This traditional form of surgery results in a 70 percent cure rate for patients with stress incontinence.
After undergoing the sling procedure, patients can usually return home within six to 12 hours and even return to work the same day. “We are seeing magnificent outcomes with this surgery,” said Dr. Nikiforouk, who has performed between 150 and 200 of the procedures to date.
Women who come to Ohio Valley General Hospital for a hysterectomy can take advantage of minimally invasive options as well. While patients in the past might have been required to undergo a traditional hysterectomy followed by a six-week recovery, patients today can undergo a laparoscopic hysterectomy, which requires far less recovery time. “Laparoscopic hysterectomies are an excellent option for women who suffer from severe cramping and bleeding and who need to find resolution for these symptoms,” said Dr. Nikiforouk. “Because this is a minimally invasive surgery, patients usually recover within three to seven days, instead of six weeks.”
“The procedure itself takes between 45 minutes and an hour-and-a-half, and requires extremely small incisions,” he added. “This helps to decrease the chance of infection, bleeding and pain.”
According to Dr. Nikiforouk, who has been performing laparoscopic hysterectomies for the past five years, he and his partner, Dr. Jennifer Stull, have performed approximately 30 of these procedures in the past five months at Ohio Valley General Hospital. “Only five percent of physicians in the United States can offer this option, which we believe is the definitive treatment,” he said. “Because this is a new subspecialty in the field of gynecology, most residents don’t learn this procedure.”
Last year, Drs. Nikiforouk and Stull started offering laparoscopic hysterectomies at Ohio Valley General Hospital. “One of the biggest benefits of coming to OVGH is that Dr. Stull and I work together as a team during each surgery,” said Dr. Nikiforouk. “Because we assist each other, patients’ procedures go much smoother and faster. Instrumentation has also improved significantly in the past year, which has streamlined the procedure even more.”
According to Dr. Nikiforouk, the procedure is appropriate for most women. “People come from all over western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to have this surgery performed at OVGH,” he said.
“It’s really a great option for the modern woman who needs to get back to work, or to her life, more quickly. The majority of women don’t require many pain medications within 24 hours of the surgery, and within seven to 10 days, most women can go back to work.”

For more information on minimally invasive options offered at Ohio Valley General Hospital, visit www.ohiovalleyhospital.org or call (412) 777-6161. .

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