Factors influencing intraoperative blood loss and hemoglobin drop during laparoscopic myomectomy: a tailored approach is possible?

Abstract

A retrospective study was conducted on patients subjected to laparoscopic myomectomy at our institution from January 2017 to December 2018 to identify predictive factors of blood loss. Two multiple regression models were run to predict intraoperative blood loss and haemoglobin drop. Predictors of an increased intraoperative blood loss and haemoglobin drop were the presence of three-four fibroids at ultrasound (+47 ml, p = .01; +0.58 g/dl, p = .05) and increased operative time (r = 0.57, p = .01; r = 0.01, p < .01), while predictors of a reduced intraoperative blood loss and haemoglobin drop were epinephrine injection (–50 ml, p < .01; −0.42 g/dl, p < .01), FIGO7 (–87 ml, p < .01; −0.85, p = .01), and FIGO6 (–35 ml, p < .01; −0.44, p = .02) fibroids at the ultrasound. Preoperative ultrasound evaluation is crucial in identifying patients at higher risk for blood loss, which could benefit from optimising haemoglobin values. The injection of diluted epinephrine could be proposed in selected high-risk patients. In the clinical practice, a tailored approach based on fibroids’ ultrasonographic characteristics should be implemented to optimise preoperative Hb values and evaluate the use of diluted epinephrine in selected cases, reducing blood loss and the potential related complications.

Impact statement

• What is already known on this subject? Laparoscopic myomectomy is the conservative surgical treatment of choice for symptomatic uterine fibroids. Still, it could represent a challenging procedure even for an experienced surgeon, with the risk of excessive blood loss, need of transfusions, prolonged operative time, and prolonged hospital stay. The knowledge of the predictive factors of blood loss is essential for patient preparation and surgical planning to reduce intraoperative and postoperative complications.

• What do the results of this study add? The results of the present study focus on the importance of presurgical evaluation to identify predictive factors of intraoperative blood loss and Hb drop such as the number of fibroids and the FIGO classification (at preoperative ultrasound), as well as intraoperative factors like operative time and the intramyometrial injection of diluted epinephrine.

• What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? A tailored approach based on the ultrasonographic characteristics of fibroids should be implemented to optimise preoperative haemoblobin levels.

Keywords:

• Fibroids
• laparoscopy
• myomectomy
• epinephrine
• intraoperative blood loss
• haemoglobin drop

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.