[THE USE OF VAGINAL RINGS FOR THE TREATMENT OF GENITAL ORGAN PROLAPSE]

The rise in women's age globally, as well as lifetime hard physical work and high parity rate in the third world countries, is a substantial cause for female genital organ prolapse of variable degrees of severity. This, in turn, has a negative effect on the function of the affected women. The definitive treatment for this condition is surgery of various types in accordance with the anatomic injury, although it is not easily available throughout the world. Hence the use of vaginal pessaries, which is quite prevalent among the affected women, mainly in third world countries. These contraptions enable fixation of the prolapsed female pelvic organs in the pelvis and prevent their descent to the vagina and beyond. The most prevalent vaginal ring is the pessary ring, although a large variety of vaginal rings are available. In this article the authors review some of the aspects regarding the use of vaginal rings for pelvic organ prolapse. Generally, the use of these rings was found safe and effective - both by physicians as well as users, however, reports of some negative complications related to the use of these devices have been published. Another clinical experimental aspect of the use of these rings is to try to prevent premature delivery in pregnant women. Currently, this treatment option is still regarded as being controversial in terms of its effectiveness for this purpose.