The Incidence of Pelvic Hematoma Following Hysterectomy

Hysterectomy is one of the common operations in gynecology. With population aging in modern society, the incidence of these surgeries is expected to increase even more. One of the major complications of pelvic surgery is symptomatic pelvic hematoma, which can present with pain, fever, and foul smelling discharge. The incidence of pelvic hematoma is 40%, and varies according to the type of hysterectomy and the diagnostic procedure. Those hematoma increase the risk for infection. Diagnosis usually is not a clinical one unless symptoms occur, and then the diagnosis is made by CT or ultrasound. Number of interventions are mentioned in the literature to try and decrease post operative complications and infections, none have suggested effective enough. This is a prospective study which objective is to characterize the incidence of pelvic hematoma following hysterectomy using ultrasound. The investigators will also try to identify preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative risk factors for infection of this hematomas. This identification might decrease the incidence of postoperative hematoma and infection.