Emergency Gynecologic Surgery Outcomes During Working and Off-Hours

To compare perioperative outcomes of emergency gynecologic surgeries performed during working hours and off-hours, and to evaluate temporal trends in surgical approach, particularly laparoscopy.

This retrospective cohort study included patients who underwent emergency surgery for ovarian torsion, ovarian cyst rupture, or ruptured tubal ectopic pregnancy between January 1, 2020 and October 1, 2025 at a tertiary referral center. Patients were grouped according to surgical timing as working hours or off-hours. Demographic characteristics, surgical approach, operative time, hemoglobin decrease, transfusion requirement, hospital stay, intraoperative and postoperative complications, and reoperation were compared within each diagnostic group. Annual trends in surgical approach were also analyzed, and multivariable linear regression assessed the association of off-hours surgery with operative time and length of hospital stay.

A total of 386 patients were included: 69 with ovarian torsion, 77 with ovarian cyst rupture, and 240 with ruptured tubal ectopic pregnancy. Most procedures were performed during off-hours. In ovarian torsion and ovarian cyst rupture, perioperative outcomes were comparable between groups. In ruptured tubal ectopic pregnancy, operative time was longer during off-hours than during working hours and remained independently associated with off-hours surgery after adjustment, while hemoglobin decrease, transfusion requirement, hospital stay, complications, and reoperation rates were similar. The proportion of laparoscopic procedures increased from 17.9% in 2020 to 90.0% in the first 9 months of 2025.

Off-hours emergency gynecologic surgery showed largely comparable outcomes to working-hours surgery. The marked shift toward laparoscopy suggests increasing integration of minimally invasive surgery into emergency gynecologic practice.