A COMPARISON OF LAPAROSCOPICALLY ASSISTED VAGINAL HYSTERECTOMY VS TRADITIONAL TOTAL ABDOMINAL AND VAGINAL HYSTERECTOMIES

The objective of this work was to compare laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy to traditional total abdominal and vaginal hysterectomies in seven critical areas: anesthesia time, surgery time, hospital stay, operative blood loss, total analgesic use, time required to return to work, and total cost of each of these procedures. The first 25 unscreened, consecutive laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomies performed by the senior author were compared with 25 randomly selected traditional total abdominal and 25 randomly selected vaginal hysterectomies performed by the senior author's professional corporation. Laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy compared favorably to abdominal and vaginal hysterectomy in three areas and was superior to both total abdominal hysterectomy and vaginal hysterectomy in the remaining four areas. Although the use of the endoscopic stapling device and laser made the laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy a more expensive procedure than traditional vaginal hysterectomy, the expense was not significant and was justified by the decreased surgery time. The results of this comparative study suggest that laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy is superior or comparable to total abdominal hysterectomy and vaginal hysterectomy, especially for patients who may not have been candidates for vaginal hysterectomy. This procedure has allowed the gynecologic endoscopic surgeon to convert abdominal to vaginal procedures. Laparoscopically assisted vaginal hysterectomy provides an overall cost savings to the patient, has a low complication rate, adapts well to the outpatient setting, causes less patient discomfort, and allows the patient to return rapidly to home and workplace.