Myomectomy fever: testing the dogma

Objective: To test the hypothesis that elevated temperature is more common after abdominal myomectomy than after hysterectomy. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Academic medical center. Patient(s): One hundred one women who underwent abdominal myomectomy and 160 women who underwent total abdominal hysterectomy for benign disease from 1988-1993. Intervention(s): Abdominal myomectomy. Main Outcome Measure(s): Temperature of greater than or equal to 38.5 degrees C within 48 hours after operation. Result(s): Although univariate analysis showed that the incidence of elevated temperature was slightly greater among patients who underwent myomectomy (33% versus 26%, relative risk 1.29, 95% confidence interval 0.88-1.90), multivariate logistic regression analysis showed a 3.29 relative risk of elevated temperature (95% confidence interval 1.56-6.96) with myomectomy after controlling for age, parity, estimated blood loss, and treatment by the general gynecology service. Conclusion(s): After controlling for confounders, myomectomy was found to be an independent predictor for fever in the first 48 hours after operation. (Fertil Steril(R) 1999;72:104-8. (C)1999 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.).