Study objective: To investigate the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in patients undergoing large specimen hysterectomy for benign indications. To evaluate the impact of route of surgery and operative time in the development of VTE in this population.
Design: Retrospective cohort study (Canadian Task Force Classification II2) of targeted hysterectomy data prospectively collected from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program involving over 500 hospitals across the United States.
Setting: National Surgical Quality Improvement Program Database.
Patients: Women aged 18 years or older undergoing hysterectomy for benign indications between 2014 and 2019. Patients were further classified into 4 groups according to uterine weight: <100 g, 100-249 g, 250 g-499 g, and specimens ≥500 g.
Interventions: Current Procedural Terminology codes were used to identify cases. Variables including age, ethnicity, body mass index, smoking status, diabetes, hypertension, blood transfusion, and American Society of Anesthesiologists classification system scores were collected. Cases were stratified by route of surgery, operative time, and uterine weight.
Measurements and main results: A total of 122,418 hysterectomies occurring between 2014 and 2019 were included in our study, of which 28,407 (23.2%) patients underwent abdominal, 75,490 (61.7%) laparoscopic, and 18,521 (15.1%) vaginal hysterectomy. The overall rate of VTE in patients with large specimen hysterectomies (≥500 g) was 0.64%. After multivariable adjustment, there was no significant difference in the odds of VTE between uterine weight groups. Only 30% of the surgeries with uterine weight above 500 g were performed with minimally invasive surgical routes. Patients who underwent minimally invasive hysterectomy had lower odds of VTE via laparoscopic (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.62; confidence interval [CI]: 0.48-0.81) and vaginal (aOR 0.46; CI: 0.31-0.69) routes compared to laparotomy. Prolonged operative time (>120 min) was associated with increased odds of VTE (aOR 1.86; CI:1.51-2.29).
Conclusion: The occurrence of VTE after a benign large specimen hysterectomy is rare. The odds of VTE is higher with longer operative times and lower with minimally invasive approaches, even for markedly enlarged uteri.
Keywords: Laparoscopy; Morcellation; Robotics; Uterine myoma; Vaginal surgery.
Published by Elsevier Inc.