Ureteric injury risk with hysterectomy up 2001 to 2010

(HealthDay)—In 2001 to 2010, 0.5 percent of women experienced ureteric injury in the year after a hysterectomy, with lower rates for benign versus malignant conditions and rates of injury increasing between 2001 and 2010, according to a study published online Aug. 18 in BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Amit Kiran, Ph.D., from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and colleagues examined the rates of ureteric injury among women undergoing hysterectomy in a retrospective cohort study. The main outcome measure was ureteric injury within one year of hysterectomy.

The researchers found that 377,073 women underwent hysterectomy in 2001 to 2010, of whom 0.5 percent experienced a ureteric injury. The rate of injury was higher in 2006-2010 than in 2001-2005 in both benign and malignant groups. After 2006, ureteric injuries were most common for abdominal radical hysterectomy for uterine cancer (10.7 percent). For ovarian and cervical cancer, the proportion of women having ureteric injury was similar (1.9 to 4 percent, depending on the procedure type). The rate of injury tended to be lower for benign conditions (less than 1 percent). Among this group, women with endometriosis had the highest risk (1.7 percent after total abdominal hysterectomy).

"The risk of ureteric injury within one year of hysterectomy varied by type of hysterectomy for benign and malignant condition," the authors write.