ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the clinical value of laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy(LAVH)in large uterus.Methods Retrospective analysis was conducted on clinical data of 94 patients(whose uterus were as big as 10-18 gestational weeks)who received hysterectomy from January 2005 to March 2007,in which 56 cases were performed laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy(LAVH group)and 38 cases vaginal hysterectomy(VH group).The operation time,blood loss,postoperative hospital stay,and the incidence of postoperative complications were compared between the two groups.Results Compared with VH group,there were a lower chance of abdominal hysterectomy(0/56 vs 5/38,?2=5.389,P=0.020),a shorter operation time [(149?11)min vs(179?14)min,t=-11.610,P=0.000] and a shorter postoperative hospital stay [(5.8?1.4)d vs(7.3?3.6)d,t=-2.825,P=0.006] in the LAVH group.There were no significant differences in blood loss,morbidity and time to first flatus between the two groups.Conclusions The LAVH extends the indications of VH,ensuring the safety of VH for the uterus bigger than 10 gestational weeks,therefore it is an operative procedure to be recommended.