Minimally invasive vaginal hysterectomy using bipolar vessel sealing: Preliminary experience with 500 cases

The objective of our study was to evaluate surgical outcome of minimally invasive vaginal hysterectomy (MIVH), using the bipolar vessel sealing system (BVSS; BiClamp®). The design was a retrospective analysis (Canadian Task-force Classification II-3). The setting was a secondary care hospital. Records of patients who underwent vaginal hysterectomy for benign indications in our centre between November 2005 and March 2011 were reviewed. The demographic patients’ data, indications for surgery, patient history with regard to previous surgery, duration of surgery, blood loss (postoperative haemoglobin drop ‘∆Hb’), perioperative complications, and length of inpatient stay were collected from the medical records. The intervention was vaginal hysterectomy using BVSS (BiClamp®). Results showed that the mean duration of surgery was 48.9 ± 15.3 min (95% CI, 49.2–52.5). The mean duration of hospital stay was 3.2 ± 1.2 days (95% CI, 2.8–3.2). The mean ∆Hb was 1.4 ± 1.8 g/dl. Overall, conversion to laparotomy was requi...