Continuous Locked Non-barbed Suture for Mesh Fixation During Laparoscopic Ventral Rectopexy for Severe Rectal Prolapse

Introduction Laparoscopic ventral rectopexy could be considered the gold standard procedure for rectal prolapse because provides the potential to combine the success rates of an abdominal approach with the faster recovery associated with a minimally invasive technique. Tissue dissection and mesh placement may also be facilitated by the magnification and field of view permitted by the laparoscopic approach. These benefits must be balanced against a longer operating time from 150 to 250 minutes according to surgeons' experience. This prospective randomized pilot study is aimed to verify if the operative time of a standard laparoscopic ventral rectopexy for the treatment of rectal prolapse could be further reduced using using a continuous locked suture vs. conventional 6-points single suture for mesh fixation.

Secondary endopoints of this comparison are incidence of intra- or postoperative complications estimated blood loss, postoperative pain (evaluated by VAS), days of hospitalization and costs for the health care system.

Statistical Analysis and Study Design This is a single Institution prospective randomized clinical trial conducted at the Pia Fondazione Panico of Tricase, Italy.

To have an imbalanced results and to reduce any bias, a randomization list has been checked.

Probability (p) values will be considered to be statistically significant at the <0.05 level.