Does surgical volume influence short-term outcomes of laparoscopic hysterectomy?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether surgical volume has an impact on short-term outcomes of laparoscopic hysterectomy. STUDY DESIGN: This is a retrospective analysis of 1016 laparoscopic hysterectomies. RESULTS: The surgeons were divided into 2 groups based on a cutoff of 30 cases. Patient characteristics, the rates of laparotomy (4.5% vs 6.7%), and serious complications (3.6% vs 5.5%) were similar between 9 high and the remaining 39 low volume gynecologists, respectively (P \u3c .05). Mean operating time was longer in the low volume group. Compared with their first 29 hysterectomies, the high volume surgeons decreased their operating time significantly in their subsequent cases. The high volume surgeons improved their conversion rate (9.2% vs 2.4%; P \u3c .0001) over time but not their serious complications. CONCLUSION: In laparoscopic hysterectomy, increasing the surgical volume can reduce the operating time and the risk for conversion to laparotomy but not the rate of serious complications. Copyright (c) 2010 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved