Five-Year Experience with LAVH at a Small Community Hospital

In September 1990 we performed our first laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH). Operating time was 127 minutes, estimated blood loss was 400 ml, and length of hospital stay of 3 days. No surgical complications occurred. During the next 5 years, as we gained more experience, the technique changed until we arrived at our present method. In the last patient in this 5-year period, length of operating time was 72 minutes, estimated blood loss was 100 ml, and length of stay was 2 days. The shorter hospital stay was statistically significant compared with abdominal hysterectomy; the length of surgery and blood loss were not. Patient discomfort was less with LAVH. Again, no surgical complications occurred. During these 5 years we performed a total of 318 LAVHs. The procedure enabled us to reduce the number of abdominal hysterectomies to only a few. We believe that, in the hands of experienced surgeons, the outcome is better with LAVH than with the standard abdominal approach.