[Psychiatric and sexual sequelae of hysterectomy--a comparison of different surgical methods]

Comparison of Different Surgical Methods: The cardinal question of this prospective longitudinal study was whether different surgical methods of hysterectomy correlate with differences in adaptation and in respect of psychological as well as sexual consequences. A total of 83 patients were investigated immediately prior to surgery as well as 6 weeks later. 61 resp. 58 patients participated in follow-up investigations 6 months and 1 year following surgery. Total hysterectomy was performed vaginally in 16 females, abdominally in 22 patients. 23 patients underwent subtotal C.I.S.H. hysterectomy. 23 females indicated for myoma enucleation formed another group of this study. Besides several psychological variables of potential influence such as personality characteristics, coping, sexual attitudes and partner satisfaction, the study covered psychological as well as physical complaints, life satisfaction and differential characteristics of sexual experiences and behaviour longitudinally. The results indicate that single subgroups differ from each other in several respects. There were no indications of different psychological as well as sexual consequences depending on the surgical method. These findings support the view that consequences of hysterectomies are more likely to be predicted on the basis of psychological traits that existed before the operation, rather than from a medico-technical point of view.