The Effectiveness of Pessary Use in Patients with Pelvic Prolapse.
Mariana Alyssa Muņoz-Morris
Faculty Advisor:  M. Weinberger

     I worked with Dr. Michael Weinberger in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Kaiser Permanente, Los Angeles Medical Center. Last summer Dr. Weinberger, Dr. Friend and Frank Azevedo, an Occidental alumni class of 2003, started this research project. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of pessary use in patients with pelvic prolapse. A pessary is a device that is inserted into the vagina to provide support of the bladder, rectum, or uterus. My job consisted in doing an extensive chart review in search of patients who were using or had used a pessary in the past. I collected information regarding their past medical and surgical history, their prolapse, the pessaries they used, the complications they had encountered and whether they had surgically repaired the prolapse or were still using the pessary. The candidates were then sent a questionnaire which asked them about their experience with the pessary and their opinion on it. 
     If they returned the questionnaire they received a $5.00 reward. All of the information was entered in spread sheets in the computer to facilitate the presentation of our final results. At this point in the study I have finished reviewing the charts of all the patients needed, a pool of 250 subjects, and we are now waiting for the subjects to return the completed questionnaires. The final results will be drawn when this information is collected. 
     Some of the most fascinating days were when Dr. Weinberger would let me shadow him in clinic, the Operating Room and in Labor and Delivery.

Support provided by:  Kaiser Foundation