Hysterectomy | Uterus Removal Surgery in Indiranagar

In this blog, Dr. Bhargavi Reddy, a medical gynecologist in Bangalore is going to explain hysterectomy and its surgical techniques which is a very relevant topic for all of us.

After a certain age or you can say when a woman attends the age of 50, her menstrual period is constantly reduced, and it doesn’t come every month. Menopause time comes when she doesn’t get a menstrual period for more than 12 months.

So, friends, today I am going to elaborate about Hysterectomy, an operational procedure after which you no longer have menstrual periods and cannot become pregnant.

What is a Hysterectomy?

Hysterectomy is an operational procedure where a woman’s uterus is removed. There can be several reasons behind this such as uterine fibroids, endometriosis, chronic pelvic pain, adenomyosis, abnormal vaginal bleeding, cancer of the uterus, cervix or ovaries and so on.

Types of Hysterectomy

Sometimes patients question me about whether the entire uterus will be removed during hysterectomy or a part of it. However, it depends!

• In a supracervical or subtotal hysterectomy, only the upper part of the uterus is removed, keeping the cervix intact.
• A total hysterectomy removes the whole cervix and uterus.
• Lastly, in radical hysterectomy, internal parts like the whole uterus, the cervix, the top part of the vagina, and tissue on the sides of the uterus are discarded. It is generally done when cancer exists.

In some cases, ovaries may also be removed, and we call that procedure as oophorectomy. The process of removing tubes is called a salpingectomy. The complete procedure of removing the uterus, both tubes and both ovaries is called hysterectomy and bilateral salpingectomy-oophorectomy.

Now friends, let’s take a deep dive into the surgical techniques discussion on hysterectomy.

What Are the Surgical Techniques For Hysterectomy?

Though there are various approaches for hysterectomy, a surgeon performs, depending upon the reason for the hysterectomy and a woman’s overall health. There are two different approaches to this surgery – a traditional or open surgery and operation using minimally invasive procedure (MIP).

Open Surgery Hysterectomy

Open surgery or abdominal surgery is the most common approach to hysterectomy. To perform this surgery, a surgeon makes a 5 to 7-inch incision, either side-to-side or up-and-down or across the belly. In the next step, we remove the uterus through this incision. A patient has to stay in the hospital for about 2-3 days. A visible scar remains on the abdomen even after healing.

MIP Hysterectomy

For Minimally Invasive Procedure (MIP) Hysterectomy, several approaches such as vaginal hysterectomy, laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy, robot-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy can be used.

Vaginal hysterectomy

In a vaginal hysterectomy, the surgeon makes a cut in the vagina and removes the uterus through the incision. It is like delivering a baby with no visible scar marks.

Laparoscopic Hysterectomy

As the name suggests, a surgeon uses a laparoscope, which is a tube with a lighted camera to view the operation on a video screen. Several cuts are made on the belly of the patient, through which surgical tools are inserted, or in case of a single site laparoscopic procedure, one small tool is enough in the belly button. MIP hysterectomy is performed outside the body, viewing the operation of inserted tools in the human body.

Laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy

In this case, laparoscopic tools are used in the belly, which assists the surgeon in the removal of the uterus through an incision in the vagina.

Robot-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy

This procedure is quite similar to laparoscopic hysterectomy. But, the only difference is the surgeon uses robotic system if surgical tools from outside the body. This advanced technology helps the surgeon to view the hysterectomy on a three-dimensional screen.