Da Vinci Pelvic
Organ Prolapse Surgery
Restore confidence and comfort
Pelvic organ prolapse happens when the muscles and connective tissues supporting your pelvic organs (uterus, bladder, and rectum) weaken, causing the organs to slip down (prolapse) from their usual positions. Vaginal examinations show that up to 50 percent of women have some degree of pelvic organ prolapse.1,4 Some women experience no symptoms, while others struggle with symptoms that take a toll on their daily lives, including pelvic pain, incontinence, a bulge in the vagina, tissue bulging out of the vagina, and sexual problems.3,6 Too often, women feel embarrassed about their symptoms and may not reach our for help.1,5 But help is available. And you deserve to know your options for care.
Take back control
If you’ve been diagnosed with pelvic organ prolapse, your doctor may recommend a wait-and-see approach, lifestyle changes, exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, or a removable vaginal device that supports pelvic organs called a pessary.6 If none of these options provide adequate symptom relief, your doctor may recommend surgery. There are two types of surgery for pelvic organ prolapse: obliterative surgery and reconstructive surgery.6 Obliterative surgery narrows or closes off the vagina to provide support for prolapsed organs.
Reconstructive pelvic organ prolapse repair surgery aims to hold the organs in their correct locations. During surgery, the surgeon moves the organs back to their original positions and uses your own tissue or surgical mesh to hold the organs in place.
Surgeons can perform pelvic organ prolapse repair surgery using traditional open surgery, which requires a long incision (cut), or through minimally invasive surgery. In traditional open surgery, the surgeon looks directly at the surgical area through the incision and performs the repair using hand-held tools.
There are three types of minimally invasive approaches: vaginal, laparoscopic, or da Vinci robotic-assisted surgery. A vaginal surgery is when the entire procedure is done through the vagina and there are no incisions (cuts) on your abdomen. Doctors perform minimally invasive laparoscopic or robotic-assisted surgeries through a few small incisions in the abdomen. To perform a laparoscopic procedure, surgeons use special long-handled tools while viewing magnified images from the laparoscope (camera) on a video screen. In a da Vinci surgery, surgeons use a robotic system with a high-definition camera. The surgeon guides small instruments through a console.
How da Vinci works
Surgeons can perform a type of pelvic organ prolapse repair called a sacrocolpopexy using da Vinci technology. With da Vinci, your surgeon sits at a console next to you and operates using tiny, fully wristed instruments.
A camera provides a high-definition, 3D magnified view inside your body. Every hand movement your surgeon makes is translated by the da Vinci system in real time to manipulate the instruments with precision.
It’s important to remember that Intuitive does not provide medical advice. After discussing all options with your doctor, only you and your doctor can determine whether surgery with da Vinci is appropriate for your situation. You should always ask your surgeon about his or her training, experience, and patient outcomes.
Ask your surgeon about their da Vinci surgery outcomes
Every surgeon's experience is different. Be sure to talk with your surgeon about the surgical outcomes they deliver using the da Vinci system. For example, ask about:- Length of hospital stay
- Complication rate
- Rate of returning to the hospital within 30 days of surgery
- Reoperation rate
- Transfusion and/or blood loss
- Chance of changing to an open procedure
- Length of operation
- Mortality rate
There are additional surgical outcomes you may want to talk about with your doctor. Please ask to discuss all important outcomes. Every surgery involves risk and you can read more about those associated with sacrocolpopexy.
Questions you can ask your doctor
- What options are available to address my pelvic organ prolapse?
- What happens if I don’t get surgery?
- What are the differences between open, vaginal, laparoscopic, and robotic-assisted surgery?
- Can you tell me about your training, experience, and patient outcomes with da Vinci?
- How will I feel after surgery?
Additional resources
Da Vinci 5 system overview
What to expect
Gynecologic surgery with da Vinci
- Abhyankar P, Uny I, Semple K, et al. Women's experiences of receiving care for pelvic organ prolapse: a qualitative study. BMC Womens Health. 2019;19(1):45. Published 2019 Mar 15. doi:10.1186/s12905-019-0741-2
- DeLancey JOL. "Mommy, how will the baby get out of your tummy? Will it hurt you?". Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2017;217(2):110-111. doi:10.1016/j.ajog.2017.05.055
- Padoa A, Braga A, Brecher S, Fligelman T, Mesiano G, Serati M. Pelvic Organ Prolapse: Current Challenges and Future Perspectives. J Clin Med. 2025;14(20):7313. Published 2025 Oct 16. doi:10.3390/jcm14207313
- Barber MD, Maher C. Epidemiology and outcome assessment of pelvic organ prolapse. Int Urogynecol J. 2013;24(11):1783-1790. doi:10.1007/s00192-013-2169-9
- Dunivan GC, Anger JT, Alas A, et al. Pelvic organ prolapse: a disease of silence and shame. Female Pelvic Med Reconstr Surg. 2014;20(6):322-327. doi:10.1097/SPV.0000000000000077
- Surgery for Pelvic Organ Prolapse FAQs. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Web. March 2024. Accessed 17 December 2025
https://www.acog.org/womens-health/faqs/surgery-for-pelvic-organ-prolapse