The Rise and Fall of Uterine Interposition Surgery

Uterine interposition is an operation to correct pelvic organ prolapse and was first described in 1899.

The essence of this vaginal operation consisted of dissecting the bladder, opening the plica vesico-uterina, and mobilizing and turning the uterus 180°, whereby the fundus of the uterus was positioned downward (caudal) and fixed there with stitches. This created a barrier in front of the bladder, keeping the bladder completely in place.

The operation, often in combination with other procedures such as levatorplasty and/or cervical amputation, became very popular in the first half of the twentieth century. In the literature many case series have been published with remarkably good results. However, after 1965 it disappeared completely from the literature.

The video shows an interposition operation performed in 1928 by Professor van Bouwdijk Bastiaanse in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.