[Objective assessment of symptoms and informing patients of surgical risks]

Genital prolapse is a functional pathology presenting with numerous urinary, genito-sexual, and anorectal symptoms. These symptoms are responsible for an alteration of the quality of life, sometimes associated to a real anxiety-depressive syndrome. Because of these complex intricacies, the management of these disorders became multidisciplinary. Tools to measure the impact of prolapse symptoms on the quality of life became a necessity. Such instruments should allow a correlation of the functional symptomatology at the anatomic stage, raise a surgical indication based on the functional disturbance and evaluate the effectiveness and tolerance of the various therapeutic procedures. Two validated self-questionnaires in French (short versions of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory [PFDI-20] and the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire [PFIQ-7]) are presently available. Moreover, the physician has the legal obligation to provide detailed presurgical information on frequent and severe hazards, expected benefits, functional consequences, therapeutic alternatives and the consequences of nonintervention. Before surgery takes place, the surgical approach, the benefit of using synthetic prostheses, the possibility of uterine and/or ovarian conservation, and some risky conditions such as smoking, obesity and estrogen deficiency should be discussed.