An evaluation of recovery after hysterectomy

Differences in recovery from types of hysterectomy may be due to different advice, rather than different incisions alone. Aims: What are the beliefs and experiences of women who have a hysterectomy and the practices and beliefs of health care professionals? Explore the evidence for psychological preparation for surgery. Methods: .Retrospective structured questionnaires .Semi-structured interviews and validated quality of life questionnaires .Systematic review Results: No significant difference in return to work for type of employment and incapacity pay. Variation between the advice given for recovery by UK gynaecologists and nurses. Regardless of route of surgery, the expectations and fears of women are similar and rely on health care advice, with conflicting advice and varied recovery experiences. Women who had a vaginal hysterectomy had concerns around sitting, laparoscopic route had a lower length of stay and abdominal hysterectomy had higher anxiety scores (P 0.003). Mean quality of life scores by EQ5 were not different based on route of surgery (pre-surgery P 0.4446, 1 week P 0.447, 4 weeks P 0.876,12 weeks P 0.850). There was a reduced length of stay [P 0.03, 5.65 (-10 82 to -0.48)] and reduced trait anxiety intervention [P