Hysterectomy; Indications And Side Effects...

Good day everyone; take your time to read down because it's science time 😊
Be rest assured I won't be using medical jargons and will try as much as possible to convey the information to the best of my ability....
Now let's roll...

Hysterectomy

Well, this big grammar up there simply means surgical removal of the womb.
It is the act of removing the womb of a woman for either therapeutic or diagnostic purposes.

Source

The womb or rather uterus is an essential organ that helps in the implantation of the embryo after fertilization and allows the continued growth of that embryo until 9months; the delivery time all things been equal.

Why would someone remove his or her womb?
I know it'll be awkward to think about it but there are some situations that this hysterectomy becomes an option if not the only option, those are called indications of hysterectomy.

So what are they?

Indications of Hysterectomy

• Abnormal uterine bleeding:
  Hysterectomy becomes important when a woman has been constantly bleeding despite all efforts made to manage her bleeding with medications and yet it couldn't resolve; sometimes, the cause of the bleeding might not even be known prompting no other intervention asides Hysterectomy.

• Malignancy:
  By malignancy here, I mean cancers.
  Hysterectomy helps in management of some of the cancers such as cancers of the womb, ovaries or cervix.
  It could also be used in preventing endometrial/womb cancers because If you've removed your womb before the cancer, definitely there's no way to get endometrial cancer in a "wombless" woman.

• Fibroids:
  These are benign growths in the womb of women that affects their fertility depending on the site and may also cause heavy menstrual bleeding.

Note that hysterectomy remains the last resort in the management of this condition as it could be managed by:

• Expectancy: used when the woman is almost close to her menopause as there will be reduction in oestrogen level during menopause and the woman won't need to bother about the fibroid growth from then.

• Medical method: could be used for women who aren't fit for surgery or women who don't want surgery.

• Endometriosis:
  Since endometriosis causes severe abdominal pain and heavy bleeding, it's impossible to know the extent of the endometriosis and so the definitive treatment is always hysterectomy.
  Endometriosis is when the tissues of the womb are found in other areas outside the womb, could be in the ovaries, fallopian tubes and even the pelvis.

• Uterine prolapse:
  Prolapse could be explained as when an organ, in this case, the uterus leaves the ideal position it should occupy in the body to protrude outward.
  In uterine prolapse, you see the uterus protruding or coming out through the vagina.....
  This could be caused by:
  Heavy weight lifting and Increased vaginal child birth e.t.c
  In these situations, removing of the uterus (hysterectomy) becomes the treatment option.

• Permanent Family Planning Method:
  It's not too rampant in our world but hysterectomy is also a family planning method.
  With the removal of the uterus, nothing on earth can ever make you get pregnant.

Complications of hysterectomy

No surgery doesn't come with one or two complications but then, when you weigh the odds, it's always the better option and that is why surgeries are done....
Hysterectomy isn't left out too as it has it's complications....

• Anaesthetic Complications:
  Sometimes, the patient might be allergic to the drugs used or even lead to death but it's always rare.

• Haemorrhage:
  All surgeries comes with bleeding but this is well managed with blood transfusion.

• Transfusion Complications:
  When blood transfused to the patient isn't properly screened, the patient is at risk of contacting some diseases as bad as Human Immune Virus.

• Organ damage:
  Because of the proximity of other organs to the uterus, they might get damaged during the surgeries.
  These includes, ureter, bladder or bowel damage (rectum).

• Infections
  When the hysterectomy procedure isn't neatly handled, infection ensues either during the surgical procedure or when the wound isn't properly managed leading to wound breakdown.

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Hope you learnt something new today?

References

https://teachmeobgyn.com/operations-procedures/gynaecology/hysterectomy/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/endometriosis/symptoms-causes/syc-20354656

Thanks for reading and have a nice day