A decade of hysterectomy in a tertiary hospital in urban Niger-Delta region of Nigeria.

BACKGROUND Hysterectomy is a very common gynaecological procedure which has a significant place in optimizing the reproductive health outcomes of women. OBJECTIVES To document the indications, the type of hysterectomy commonly performed, the difficulties encountered and complications of the procedure at the Central Hospital, Benin City. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a retrospective review of the service delivery records of patients that had hysterectomy in the gynaecological unit between January, 1994 and December, 2003. RESULTS There were 1216 major gynaecological operations during the study period. Of these, 131 (10.8%) hysterectomies were done. Total abdominal hysterectomy accounted for 80.4% of the procedures performed and most were done by consultants (94.4%). The mean age of the patients was 45.7 years with a median of 46 years and they were commonly grandmultiparous (71.0%). The commonest indication for the procedure was symptomatic uterine fibroid (62.3%) followed by urogenital prolapse (13.1%). The crude morbidity rate was 30.3% and the mortality rate was 1.6%. CONCLUSION Hysterectomy in this centre is a fairly safe procedure. There is paucity of skills for vaginal and radical procedures. Training is advocated with a view to reducing the presently high morbidity rate as well as achieving our aim of optimizing the reproductive health outcomes of our women.