Laparoscopic hysterectomy offers better quality of life

Women's health research has shown a laparoscopic hysterectomy can leave females with a better quality of life four years on than an abdominal procedure.

The study involved questioning 59 random patients having the operation for benign indications.

Of these, 27 were scheduled for a laparoscopic hysterectomy and 32 were having abdominal surgery.

They were given the Dutch version of the Short Form 36 questionnaire, which provides a score out of 100 for quality of life.

Women who had received a laparoscopic hysterectomy showed much higher scores - with a mean difference of 50.4 points in favour of this procedure - compared with those who had undergone an abdominal procedure up to four years after surgery.

The follow-up questionnaire was completed at a median average of 243 weeks and was filled in by 49 of the patients.

Social and physical functioning as well as vitality were revealed to be particularly improved among those who had the laparoscopic procedure.

"Patients in whom vaginal hysterectomy is not possible should be able to have a laparoscopic hysterectomy, if feasible, in terms of uterine size," the authors argued.

One risk those who have the operation may need to be aware of is early ovarian failure if they are undergoing the surgery before the menopause.

Patricia Moorman of the Cancer Prevention, Detection and Control Research Program in North Carolina in the US led a study recently published in the same journal, which showed women who have hysterectomies prior to the change are almost twice as likely to experience this problem than those who do not.

Posted by David Smith