Emergency peripartum hysterectomy: single center ten-year experience

PURPOSE: The purpose of our study is to determine the incidence, risk factors, indications, outcomes, and complications of emergency peripartum hysterectomy (EPH) performed in a university hospital. METHODS: This retrospective study includes 54 cases of EPH performed at the department of obstetrics and gynecology of Gaziantep University Hospital between the years 2005-2015. We included all hysterectomy cases during the first 24 h after delivery beyond 20 weeks of gestation. We compared the most common indications of EPH between each other. RESULTS: There were 54 EPH out of 8922 deliveries with an incidence of 6.1 per 1000 deliveries during the study period. The most common indication was abnormal placentation (74.0%). Urinary tract injury (33.4%) was the most common intraoperative complication. Bilateral hypogastric artery ligation, urinary tract injury, type of hysterectomy, post-op stay in the hospital, delivery in another hospital and other complications were significantly related to the type of EPH indication (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Abnormal placentation was the most common indication for EPH. Previous CS can be suggested as a high-risk factor for abnormal placentation. The delivery should be performed in appropriate clinical settings with experienced surgeons when high-risk factors like abnormal placentations are determined preoperatively.