Supervisors info:
Μαριόλης Σαψάκος Θεόδωρος, Επίκουρος Καθηγητής, Νοσηλευτική, ΕΚΠΑ
Θεοδοσοπούλου Ελένη, Καθηγήτρια, Νοσηλευτική, ΕΚΠΑ
Κακλαμάνος Ιωάννης, Καθηγητής, Νοσηλευτική, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
Introduction: A field of study of many studies, is the superiority of subtotal or total hysterectomy to the postoperative sexual function of women. The research of womens’ sexual life is considered a taboo subject in Greece.
Aim: The purpose of this study was to search in the literature available, to investigate the influence of cervical ablation to the sexual recovery of patients, when performing a hysterectomy.
Material and method: An electronic survey was conducted in the databases of PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane with the following keywords: Hysterectomy, Total, Subtotal, Sexuality, Sexual, Sex, SLH, TLH. From the studies found, 24 were included.
Results: Of the 24studies found, eleven were randomized clinical studies, three prospective and ten retrospective studies. In three retrospective, two prospective and one randomized study, there was found superiority of subtotal hysterectomy, while in a retrospective and a randomized study, superiority of total hysterectomy. There were differences found as regards to the surgical time, the post-operative hospitalization time and the time to return to normal sexual habits, with superiority of the subtotal hysterectomy. The studies also found, that prognostic factors of the postoperative sexual recovery were the preoperative sexual function and expectations that patients had from the surgery. Finally, salpingo-oophorectomy also had an impact on the results.
Conclusions: In this systematic review, there is no superiority of one of the two interventions as regards to post-operative sex life. Improvement in sexual life was observed postoperatively in the majority of the studies. The proper pre-operative assessment and the information given on the results of the intervention are factors that will affect their postoperative recovery regardless of the type of hysterectomy to be selected.
Keywords:
Hysterectomy, Total, Subtotal, Sex life, Sexual funcion