Immediate versus delayed hysterectomy for endometrial carcinoma: surgical morbidity and hospital stay

Presented is a retrospective review of the intraoperative complications, postoperative morbidity, and length of hospitalization in 138 patients with stage I endometrial carcinoma treated at Yale-New Haven Hospital from January 1, 1977 to December 31, 1981. One group (stage IA, grade 1) was treated with surgery alone; two groups were treated with preoperative intracavitary radium, followed with either an immediate or a delayed hysterectomy. The three groups were comparable in age, weight, and major preoperative medical problems. The mean estimated blood loss during surgery and transfusion requirements during hospitalization were similar for all three groups. The duration of the surgery in the immediate group was longer than the other two groups. The occurrence of febrile morbidity and major postoperative complications in the three groups was similar, except for bacteriuria, which was significantly more common in the immediate group. The length of the postoperative hospitalization was the same for each group; however, the delayed group as compared with the immediate group had a total hospitalization of two days longer. Hence, in the current study, immediate hysterectomy did not significantly increase the surgical or postoperative morbidity rate, compared with delayed hysterectomy. The single hospital stay in the former treatment group represented cost containment.