title: Vaginal hysterectomy. A five year prospective descriptive study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To review patients who had vaginal hysterectomy and observe any complications related to the procedure.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective descriptive study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sunshine Hospital, Actonville, Benoni, Gauteng Province, South Africa.
  
  
  METHODS
  124 consecutive women who had vaginal hysterectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Vaginal hysterectomy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Duration of operation, hospital stay, intra and post operative complications; need for blood transfusion; histological result of uterus and uterus weight.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age was 44.7years (range 16 to 74 years). Mean parity was 2.7 (range 0 to 9). Common indications were menorrhagia (34.7%) and myomatous uterus (25.8%). The common risk factors were previous Caesarean delivery (12.9%), medical conditions (9.7%) and previous tubal ligation (10.5%). The mean operation time was 86.6 minutes (range 52 to 140 minutes). Only two (1.6%) patients required blood transfusion. Complications occurred in 5.6% of the patients. Myomatous uterus (40.3%) and adenomyosis (19.4%) were the commonest histological diagnosis. The mean hospital stay was 2.5 days (range 2 to 21 days). The average weight of the uterus was 142.2 gms (range 25 to 599gms).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Vaginal hysterectomy can be performed and achieve very low complication rates.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shava
authors.forename: N L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Nene
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mpande
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001803:Blood Transfusion / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007045:Hysterectomy, Vaginal; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome