Laparoscopic hysterectomy versus total abdominal hysterectomy: a retrospective study at a tertiary hospital

Objective To compare laparoscopic hysterectomy (LH) with total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH) regarding different outcome measures at our tertiary hospital. Study design This retrospective comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Women’s Hospital, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar. It included 44 patients who had LH (group 1) and 95 patients who had TAH (group 2) during the period from January 2009 through June 2014. Results Three patients were converted from LH to TAH and were excluded from the final analysis. The size of the uterus was smaller in the LH group than the TAH group (7.38 ± 1.92 vs 10.25 ± 3.84 cm, respectively; p < 0.0005). The operative time was shorter in TAH than in LH (2.22 ± 0.93 vs 2.43 ± 0.94, respectively; p = NS). The blood loss was less in the LH group than the TAH group (258.54 ± 65.26 vs 370.32 ± 74.8, respectively; p = NS). There were no significant differences between both groups regarding rates intraoperative and early postoperative complications; however, late postoperative complications were significantly higher in the TAH group ( p < 0.05). The length of hospital stay was shorter with LH than TAH (3.63 ± 1.28 vs 5.22 ± 4 days, respectively; p < 0.001) Conclusion LH compares to TAH in terms of duration of surgery, rates of intraoperative and early postoperative complications, and the need for blood transfusion. However, it has significantly less rate of late postoperative complications and length of hospital stay.