title: Sexual life following total abdominal hysterectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of total abdominal hysterectomy (TAH) on sexual lives of patients in the postoperative period.
  
  
  METHODS
  Eighty-six patients who accepted to participate a phone-questionnaire were recruited in the study after TAH or TAH + BSO. They were asked about sexual desire, pain during sexual intercourse, frequency and satisfaction of sexual intercourse at pre- and postoperative periods, and loss of "feeling a woman" in the postoperative period. Sexual desire, pain during sexual intercourse, loss of "feeling a woman" questions were answered as "yes" or " no", number of weekly sexual intercourse was recorded, and satisfaction was graded as no = 0, mild = 1 and complete = 2 points.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While sexual desire and frequency were found to be significantly lower (p=0.026 and p=0.01 respectively), no difference was noted in dyspareunia and satisfaction. When the patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of endogenous or exogenous estrogen, no difference was seen between the two groups in the postoperative period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We concluded that the effect of TAH or TAH+BSO operations were mainly on sexual desire and the number of weekly intercourse, and estrogen in the postoperative period did not make any difference between the two groups.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Celal Bayar University, 45020 Manisa, Turkey. kemal.kuscu@bayar.edu.tr
authors.forename: N Kemal
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Kuscu
authors.forename: Semra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oruc
authors.forename: Evren
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ceylan
authors.forename: Fatma
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Eskicioglu
authors.forename: Asli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goker
authors.forename: Husnu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Caglar
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007044:Hysterectomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000523:psychology*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D019529:Sexuality; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires