Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England hospital, has been selected by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) to participate in the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network (PFDN) for a second consecutive five-year cycle. Women & Infants is one of just seven medical centers from across the US, and the only one in the Northeast, to work collaboratively to develop and perform research studies related to women with pelvic floor disorders.
Principal investigator at Women & Infants is Vivian Sung, MD, MPH, FACOG of Women & Infants’ Division of Urogynecology and Reconstructive Pelvic Surgery and associate professor at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
“Pelvic floor disorders are an issue of growing importance, from both an individual and public health point of view,” said Dr. Sung. “Participating in such high-level, national research will offer us the opportunity to test and refine the most appropriate treatment protocols for women for generations to come. From a patient perspective, being part of this network also brings new and cutting edge treatment options to women in our region.”
The five-year grant from the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development will enable members of the Network to design and conduct large-scale, high quality studies to significantly advance the care of women with pelvic floor disorders. Studies include treatments and prevention of urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and other sensory and emptying abnormalities of the lower urinary and gastrointestinal tracts.
The PFDN team aims to learn more about how to help women with pelvic floor problems. Treatments are available, but there are still questions about how best to take care of women with pelvic floor concerns. The PFDN was started to study pelvic floor disorders to bring forth answers to these questions.
Studies currently enrolling include a randomized trial studying the most effective procedures for prolapse of the vagina, a randomized trial studying different treatment options for controlling bowel leakage, and a randomized trial evaluating the best treatments for mixed urinary incontinence. To find out about the open studies in the Pelvic Floor Disorders Network at Women & Infants Hospital, please contact Ann Meers, BS, RN, CCRC, research supervisor, at ameers@wihri.org or at (401) 430-8228.