-
About
- Health
-
Patient Care
I Want To...
-
Research
I Want To...
Find Research Faculty
Enter the last name, specialty or keyword for your search below.
-
School of Medicine
I Want to...
Apply for Admission
Home > News and Publications > JHM Publications > Johns Hopkins Urology > Johns Hopkins Urology Fall 2014
Johns Hopkins Urology - Pelvic Health Center Offers Comprehensive Approach
Johns Hopkins Urology Fall 2014
Pelvic Health Center Offers Comprehensive Approach
Date: October 16, 2014
Women who come to the center are followed for the long haul. “We are developing a longitudinal registry for their results and outcomes,” says E. James Wright. “We are committed to following our patients forever.”
Many of the women who come to Johns Hopkins’ Pelvic Health Center have problems like urge incontinence, stress incontinence or prolapse, and the first thing that urologist E. James Wright does is to reassure them.
“These conditions are all fixable with excellent anatomic and physical results, and most importantly, with excellent functional results for an improved quality of life,” says Wright, director of reconstructive and neurological urology and head of urology at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.
Other patients have problems such as fistulas or strictures resulting from previous surgery; still others have ureteral injury or defecatory dysfunction. The Pelvic Health Center sees it all. The treatment team includes urologists, gynecologists, colorectal surgeons, physical therapists, educators and counselors; the surgeons have expertise in all methods of surgery.
“We say that no one size fits all, but there is a size for each,” says Wright. “We look for a comprehensive solution to the problem and find the right answer for each patient.”
Wright, the first urologist in Maryland with board certification in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery, says collaboration is a key to the center’s success, because it enhances research in areas including prolapse in women with bladder exstrophy, robotic urogenital reconstruction and in developing new techniques to enhance the effectiveness of vaginal prolapse repair.
With colorectal surgeon Susan Gearhart, Wright treats women who need complex pelvic reconstruction. Many of them are cancer survivors. “There’s a growing number of women,” he says, “who have side effects of therapies for colorectal or gynecological malignancies and now require complex reconstruction involving both the bowels and urinary tract.”
It used to be that women who had incontinence were reluctant to seek help, but fortunately, this is changing. “A large portion of what we do is teach people about what’s normal, what to expect and different strategies for management,” Wright says. “The average layperson doesn’t know what prolapse is and is frightened when something’s protruding from the vagina. I often tell women that prolapse and many of these conditions are essentially the signs of a life well lived, and that takes away a lot of the worry. Pregnancy, childbirth and menopause are natural components of a woman’s life, and sometimes they can lead to this place. But there’s lots that can be done, and we’re figuring out more all the time.”
To discuss a case or refer a patient, call 410-955-6100.