Identifying neuropathy in patients with mesh related pain.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An observational study to determine pain outcomes following polypropylene mesh (PPM) removal surgery
IRAS ID
325787
Contact name
Fiona Reid
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Manchester Foundation Trust Research and Development
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
In the UK over 100000 women have had polypropylene mesh (PPM) inserted into the vagina and pelvis to treat urinary incontinence. Some women have developed chronic pain following mesh insertion unrelated to other complications. There is very little evidence to determine how to treat the pain including whether surgical removal of mesh will help relieve pain or not. It is possible that patients with chronic pain may have developed a change in the way their nerves and sensory system works called Central Sensitization (CS). This has occurred due to high levels of pain over a long period of time. This results in more sensitivity to pain and loss of sensation, due to damage to their nerves called Small Fibre Neuropathy (SFN).
Patients with mesh who have pain may have developed SFN therefore removal of the mesh in these patients will not improve their pain as their nerve fibres have already been damaged.
This study aims to examine whether small nerve fibres in patients with mesh and pain are damaged and not functioning due to CS and SFN. This will be performed by using a technique called Corneal Confocal Microscopy (CCM) to take detailed images of these nerves in the front of the eye. By analysing these images, researchers can determine if the nerves are damaged and identify which patients may benefit from mesh removal surgery and those who will likely not.REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
24/SW/0023
Date of REC Opinion
28 Mar 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion