Reactionary hemorrhage in gynecological surgery

Bleeding is a major complication in contemporary gynecological surgery. We discusses this rare, albeit potentially serious, unexpected complication. The authors mean by "reactionary," hemorrhage that occurs within the first 24 hours after surgery. More or less, all gynecological surgeons have had to deal with this situation at some stage of their career. The seriousness of this complication stems from the fact that often the surgeon is not in the immediate vicinity to promptly step in and treat the patient. Nevertheless, the key to successful management is prompt diagnosis, immediate resuscitation, and operative intervention.

By using the collective hospital database, we reviewed 719 patient records. The authors operated on these patients between November 1990 and March 2007 (inclusive) in one hospital, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, the main teaching hospital in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The procedures performed in the 719 patients comprised 476 vaginal hysterectomies and 243 laparoscopic hysterectomies. Both public and private patients were included. The objective of the review was to establish the incidence of postoperative reactionary hemorrhage following the initial operation, as defined by the number of patients returning to the operating theatre (OT) because of postoperative hemorrhage within 24 hours of the initial hysterectomy.

Of the 719 patients, 6 experienced reactionary postoperative hemorrhage, 3 each in the vaginal hysterectomy and laparoscopic hysterectomy groups. That would make the incidence of postoperative reactionary hemorrhage 0.6% in the vaginal hysterectomy and 1.2% in the laparoscopic hysterectomy group. None of these 6 patients had any preoperative hemorrhagica diatheses. There was neither ureteric, bladder, intestinal, nor any other injuries in the whole series. No long-term complications or mortalities occurred.

Reactionary postoperative hemorrhage is a rare, albeit serious, complication of contemporary gynecological surgery; this complication may occur despite meticulous surgical technique. The key to successful management is prompt diagnosis, urgent resuscitation, and return to the OT to arrest the bleeding.