Comparison of vaginal and abdominal hysterectomy: a prospective non-randomized trial

Objective: To compare outcomes of vaginal and abdominal hysterectomy procedures in women with benign gynaecological diseases.

Methods: This was a prospective study of outcomes of consecutive patients who underwent total vaginal hysterectomy (VH) or abdominal hysterectomy (AH) for benign gynaecological diseases. Patient characteristics before, during, and after the operations were reviewed. Patients were followed up for three months to evaluate postoperative complications.

Results: This study included a total of 313 patients. 143 patients underwent AH and 170 patients underwent VH. Baseline characteristics were similar between the two groups. There were no intraoperative complications in either group. Operation time, intraoperative blood loss, first postoperative flatus time, time to out-of-bed activity, mean maximum postoperative body temperature, and duration of fever were all significantly shorter and less severe in the VH group compared with the AH group. In addition, vaginal length in the VH group was significantly shorter than in the AH group.

Conclusions: Vaginal hysterectomy has advantages over AH in the treatment of benign gynaecological diseases, providing greater efficacy and safety with minimal invasiveness.