Hysterectomy

A hysterectomy is a surgical procedure to remove all or part of the uterus, and in some cases, other reproductive organs as well, depending on a woman's individual health needs. It's most often recommended to treat conditions such as fibroids, abnormal uterine bleeding, or endometriosis, and for many women, it brings significant relief from symptoms that have affected their quality of life. Because the uterus is removed, women are no longer able to become pregnant after a hysterectomy. In fact, a hysterectomy is the most commonly performed non-obstetrical surgical procedure among women in the United States, with about 1 in 9 women undergoing one in her lifetime.

The procedure is used to treat a range of gynecological problems, including:

• Pelvic pain
• Uterine fibroids
• Heavy or painful periods
• Endometriosis
• Adenomyosis
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Pelvic organ prolapse
• Uterine, cervical, or ovarian cancer

This surgery can be performed several different ways, including:

• Open incision. This is the traditional approach to hysterectomy, performed through a single larger abdominal incision. It carries more risk than newer, minimally invasive methods, including greater blood loss, more pain, and a longer recovery time. This is not the usual approach used at The Women's Group, though it remains a common method nationwide, particularly for more complex cases.
• Vaginal hysterectomy. In this approach, the uterus is removed through the vagina without any abdominal incision. While generally associated with a shorter recovery than an open incision hysterectomy, this approach can limit the surgeon's view of the surgical field, including the ability to clearly see all surrounding organs, such as the bladder.
• da Vinci® Surgical System. This advanced, minimally invasive surgical approach offers patients substantial benefits. Because it requires only a few tiny incisions, it's far less invasive than open surgery, while still giving the surgeon a clear, magnified view of the operating field through an inserted camera that projects images onto a video monitor. Like traditional laparoscopy, this approach uses slender instruments inserted through small incisions, but with the da Vinci® system, those instruments are attached to robotic arms that the surgeon controls with precision from a nearby console. Hysterectomies performed with the da Vinci system typically involve a recovery time of just a couple of weeks, and most patients do not require an overnight hospital stay.