Abstract
A group of 99 patients, who underwent total hysterectomy because of carcinoma in situ of the cervix uteri between 3 and 57 days after cervical cone biopsy, were compared with a control group of 130 patients who were subjected to hysterectomy because of uterine fibroids with no preceding biopsy. A significantly increased frequency of wound infections was found in the cone-biopsy-hysterectomy group, 23.2% as compared with 6.2% in the control group. Furthermore a significant increase in febrile morbidity was found in the cone-biopsy-hysterectomy group, 31.3% as compared with 10.8% in the control group. In the cone-biopsy-hysterectomy group wound infections only occurred when the time interval between the two operations was between 3 and 14 days. With an interval of 15 days or more no wound infections were found. No relationship could be established between the febrile morbidity rate and the cone-biopsy-hysterectomy interval. Other complications were similar in both groups. The most frequent complications were urinary tract infections and pneumonia. No deaths occurred. It is recommended that hysterectomy should not be performed until at least two weeks after a cone biopsy of the cervix, in order to avoid the risk of wound infection which was 4 times commoner than in our control series.