How to repair congenital absence of vagina?

How to repair congenital absence of vagina? Congenital absence of vagina is a common condition, but everyone should know that although congenital absence of vagina is serious, it can be treated and repaired, and the effect after repair is relatively good and generally does not affect life. So what are the common repair methods?

Commonly used artificial vaginoplasty

There are many different methods of artificial vaginoplasty, mainly because the materials used to cover the artificial vaginal wall are different. The more commonly used ones are: sigmoid colon, peritoneum, amniotic membrane, biological patch, etc. Among them, sigmoid colon and peritoneum are the most commonly used.

1. Sigmoid colon method: effective but invasive

Sigmoid colon vaginoplasty requires the surgeon to open the abdomen and remove a section of the sigmoid colon that maintains blood flow, and then transplant it into the formed vaginal cavity. Sheng Xiujie said that since the intestine is directly used to replace the vagina, there is no need for the vaginal mucosal epithelium to crawl and grow. After the operation, the vagina generally does not contract or adhere, and the intestinal mucosa secretes more, and the effect of sexual life is better. However, this operation requires cutting a section of the intestine, which is more traumatic to the patient. In addition, the artificial vagina made of the colon has a peculiar smell, which will bring inconvenience to the patient's life.

2. Peritoneal method: no organs involved and small wound

Peritoneal vaginoplasty involves peeling off part of the pelvic peritoneum and pulling it down to line the wall of the artificial vagina. This operation is currently mainly performed under laparoscopy, which is less invasive. This operation does not involve organs and has a small incision. Sheng Xiujie said, "However, due to the relatively small secretion of the peritoneum, the effect of sexual life is not as good as that of the artificial vagina made by the sigmoid colon, but it can generally ensure normal sexual life."

3. Amniotic membrane method: simple but with a lot of secretions

Amniotic membrane vaginoplasty mainly uses fresh amniotic membrane as biological dressing. The covered amniotic membrane has a high growth rate and can prevent wound infection and act as a fiber scaffold. Generally, after 3 to 6 months, the final vagina is similar to the natural vagina. This surgical method is the simplest and safest, but the aseptic operation technique should be strictly followed, otherwise it is easy to fail due to infection. The advantages of amniotic membrane vaginoplasty are low cost, short operation and anesthesia time, but more secretions after surgery.

4. Biological patch method: good effect but too expensive

The biological patch method of vaginoplasty mainly uses biological patches to cover the four walls of the artificial vagina. This biological patch is a natural extracellular matrix obtained by decellularizing allogeneic tissue using tissue engineering technology. This material is non-toxic and has good tissue compatibility, and will not trigger the body's immune rejection reaction. The advantages are short surgery and anesthesia time, short postoperative mucosalization time, and the time required to wear the mold is also shortened accordingly. The formed vaginal mucosa is thicker, smoother, and more elastic. However, the cost is too high, and granulation tissue is prone to grow at the top of the reconstructed vagina.