Vaginal endoscopic oophorectomy with vaginal hysterectomy: a simple minimal access surgery technique

The main advantage of laparoscopic assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH) is ease of access to the ovaries; despite this, LAVH is infrequently performed due to the inherent difficulty of the technique. Lower morbidity, shorter length of surgery, reduced hospital stay and more rapid recovery are the main advantages of vaginal hysterectomy, but one of its limitations is the accessibility of the ovaries. Three methods of vaginal endoscopic oophorectomy following vaginal hysterectomy are described in this paper. Endoscopic vaginal oophorectomy was successfully perfomed during 82 cases of vaginal hysterectomy and the results show that the technique is simple, safe and easy to learn, and an alternative to laparotomy and LAVH in the absence of pelvic adhesions.