Gynecology & Obstetrics
Open Access
ISSN: 2161-0932
ISSN: 2161-0932
S Robert Kovac, Stephen H Cruikshank, Abhishek Patwari and Pat O’Meara
Aim: To report on 28 years of using the guidelines for hysterectomy to determine the feasibility of vaginal hysterectomy.
Methods: Patients with benign disease requiring hysterectomy were assigned type of hysterectomy by guidelines published in1995 according to uterine size, presumed extrauterine disease, and the accessibility of the vagina. Data for consecutive hysterectomies from 1980 to 2008 were collected and assembled into a database.
Results: We identified 11,094 patients. The ratio of abdominal to vaginal hysterectomy was 1:92. The indications for hysterectomy were similar to the general population reported by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). Uterine weights for 94.7% of patients were <280 g. Laparoscopy-assisted vaginal hysterectomy, as it was originally described and published in 1990, was used on 1264 patients to verify the presence of presumed severe extrauterine pathology. Vaginal inaccessibility that contraindicated the vaginal approach was present in 109 (1.0%) cases.
Conclusion: When the guidelines were followed, the vaginal approach was found feasible in 98.9% (10975/11094) of patients with benign disease. This suggests that following guidelines will increase the currently declining rates of vaginal hysterectomy, which are of concern to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).