The Effect of Physiotherapy Treatment Following Gynaecological Surgery

April 28, 2021 updated by: Mary Galea, University of Melbourne

The Effect of a Physiotherapy Treatment Program on Pelvic Function Following Gynaecological Surgery

Optimal pelvic floor muscle function is known to assist bladder and bowel function and control, pelvic organ support, as well as other areas of health. It is also known that problems in some of tehse areas can be a consequence of pelvic surgery. By addressing the requirements for good bladder and bowel function/control, and organ support in the early post-surgery phase when tissue repair and scar formation are critical, it is proposed that there will be a rduction in the longterm prevalence of bladder problems, bowel difficulties and weakened pelvic floor and abdominal muscles in post-surgery patients. This study is a randomised controlled trial to compare patients undergoing a physiotherapy-supervised pelvic floor muscle training and behavioural therapy program with a control group. It is hypothesised that at the 12 month post-operative follow-up assessment, the treatment group will demonstrate better outcomes in bladder and bowel function and control, as well as stronger pelvic floor muscle contractile strength than the control group.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Optimal pelvic floor muscle function is known to assist bladder and bowel function and control, pelvic organ support, as well as other areas of pelvic health. It is also known that problems in some of these areas can develop after pelvic surgery. By addressing the requirements for good bladder and bowel function/control, and organ support in the early post-surgical phase when tissue repair and scar formation are critical, it is proposed that there will be a reduction in the long-term prevalence of bladder and bowel dysfunction, and weak pelvic floor and abdominal muscles in post-surgical patients. There have been no previous studies investigating whether a physiotherapy intervention can assist pelvic function in this group of surgical patients.

This study aims to investigate the effect of a physiotherapy treatment program on pelvic function following gynaecological surgery.

Comparisons: Pre- and post-operative physiotherapy treatment vs no treatment following gynaecological surgery.

Outcome measures: Pelvic floor muscle strength, urine leakage, quality of life, sexual functioning, general fitness, measured at 3, 6 and 12 months post-operatively

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

50

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Australia
    • Victoria
      • Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3010
        • School of Physiotherapy, The University of Melbourne

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • undergoing vaginal gynaecological surgery, for hysterectomy or prolapse repair

Exclusion Criteria:

  • surgery for malignancy
  • anti-incontinence surgery
  • laparotomy

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Pelvic floor muscle training
Pelvic floor muscle training: clinic and rooms exercise training
Behavioral: Pelvic floor muscle training and lifestyle modification
No Intervention: Usual care
Usual care as provided by the surgeon and hospital staff

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Bladder symptom (prevalence and bother) questionnaire.
Time Frame: Pre-operative compared to 12 months post-operative
A questionnaire about bladder symptoms
Pre-operative compared to 12 months post-operative
Prolapse symptom (prevalence and bother) questionnaire.
Time Frame: Pre-operative compared to 12 months post-operative
A questionnaire about prolapse symptoms
Pre-operative compared to 12 months post-operative

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pelvic floor muscle strength.
Time Frame: Pre-operative compared to 12 months post-operative
Strength assessed via digital muscle testing
Pre-operative compared to 12 months post-operative

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

University of Melbourne

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Mary P Galea, PhD, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

July 1, 2002

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2006

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 13, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 13, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

September 22, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 3, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 28, 2021

Last Verified

April 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 08-15-10-01

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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