Editor's Letter April 2025

Hello all! We meet again after a while. Well, after the 2024 annual IUGA meeting, it seemed prudent to go back to the drawing board to reimagine the Spotlight for the new year! The Spotlight traditionally had written digital content, mostly scientific, with a formal tone. It provided access to the opinion of experts and spirited debates on intriguing topics that beguile our mind, amongst other interesting content. The underlying goal was to pepper the newsletter with simple yet crucial take-home messages that help our readers in the day-to-day practice of our interesting field.

But we recognized that the Spotlight needed to do more to be a useful resource for our readership. It also needed to keep pace with the zeitgeist which has firmly moved onto multimedia content. We debated internally within the committee and also with the IUGA office and have come up with a new blueprint for the Spotlight.

Starting with 2025, Spotlight will have multimodal content with four issues published annually. It will include text articles and video articles along with short clips of the video articles that will be published biweekly on our social media platforms that invite people to watch/read the full video on the website. This new structure ensures that each video article receives appropriate attention and is published in an organized manner.

The topics will be a combination of scientific content and engaging IUGA related content. The scientific content will include debates, expert opinions, and separate sections on imaging, physiotherapy, fellow’s corner, Ask-A-Question, Difficult Cases, Cochrane Review, Surgical Tips and Tricks etc. The IUGA related content will provide updates regarding IUGA to the urogynecology community worldwide. It will include interviews with the Board members, International Advisory Board, Committee chairs and members, SIG chairs and members, IUGA events organizers, FIUGA Board members, etc.

In keeping with this format, we have an exciting issue with opinion pieces on the use of mesh in prolapse surgery and IUGA related content. First, we start off with a video interview of our beloved new IUGA President, Professor (Dr.) Anna Rosamilia. It is a wonderful interview which clearly shows the love and respect she has for our organization and the urogynecology community. I am sure the next two years are going to be eventful years for IUGA. We follow that up with two opinion pieces, by Dr. G Willy Davila and Dr. Lucila Pavan, on the lessons to be learnt from the controversy around the use of mesh in prolapse surgery.

Needless to say, these articles will help you make sense of the brouhaha that has enveloped the issue. Next up, is an article from the master of 3D USG imaging, Dr. Abbas Shobeiri, on how to deal with mesh complications. Dr. V P Paily, from India, then talks about why he still uses mesh in prolapse surgery. Dr. Natharnia Young follows up with an article and accompanying video on native tissue alternatives to use of mesh in prolapse surgery. We then have some interesting IUGA related content: Dr. Carlos Zapata, the recipient of the Lindo Cardozo Observer’s grant has spoken eloquently about his observership in Australia with Dr. Anna Rosamilia. And lastly, we have a video from Dr. Keng Ng, the past President of the SIG on Neurourology and Urogenital Pain, on the activities of the SIG. We thank Dr. Keng for his amazing work with the SIG and wish him the best for his future endeavors. I am sure he will continue with his amazing contributions to IUGA.

I would like to end this note by thanking my committee members for their diligent work in putting together this newsletter. I also would like to welcome our new committee members, Dr. Karishma Thariani and Dr. Leon Plowright. I am sure their contributions will only take the newsletter to the next level. Until next time...