The incidence of complications by hysterectomy for benign disease in correlation to an assumed preoperative score

Hysterectomies are preformed abdominally, vaginally, laparoscopic or with robotic assistance. When choosing the route of hysterectomy, the physician should take into consideration the safest and most cost-effective route to fulfill all needs of the patient.

Data were collected retrospectively from 953 patients who underwent hysterectomy between 2002 and 2010 for benign indications at UKSH, Germany. Preoperative risk scores were assigned to patients. The data were statistically evaluated to investigate relationship between the occurrence of the complication and the preoperative score at the time of the hysterectomy. For the preoperative score, patients who had undergone a previous laparoscopy were assigned 1 point; those who had undergone a previous Pfannenstiel laparotomy were assigned 2 points; those who had undergone 1 cesarean delivery were assigned 3 points; those who had undergone 2 cesarean deliveries were assigned 4 points; those who had undergone 3 cesarean deliveries were assigned 5 points; and those with no previous operations were assigned 0 points. The preoperative score was recorded for 785 patients.

Of the 785 women with complete data, the mean preoperative score was 1.09 ± 1.51 for AH, 0.75 ± 0.96 for VH, 1.04 ± 1.30 for LSH, 1.0 ± 1.40 for LAVH, and 1.38 ± 1.52 for TLH. The prevalent scores in the VH were 0 and 1, the LASH and TLH showed a prevalence over VH in the preoperative scores 3 and 4 and AH showed a prevalence over the other methods in the preoperative score 3–8. Intraoperative complications were recorded in 28 of 953 (2.9 %) cases: 10 (35.7 %) cases of VH; 13 (46.4 %) cases of AH; 3 (10.7 %) cases of LSH; 1 (3.6 %) case of LAVH; and 1 (3.6 %) case of TLH. The intraoperative complications appeared to be more frequently with heavier uterine weight showing a significant statically correlation (P < 0,001). Major postoperative complications occurred in 17 of 953 (1.8 %) cases. Minor postoperative complications were recorded in 56 of 953 (5.9 %) hysterectomies. Operation duration, hospital stay and hemoglobin decline correlated significantly with preoperative score (P < 0.001).

The suggested preoperative score is apparently successful in screening out the high-risk patients, despite the low incidence of intra and postoperative complications. The usefulness of the preoperative scoring system is worthy of further development and evaluation. The AH was favored as the ‘fallback option’ with high preoperative score.