Caesarean myomectomy--a safe procedure. A retrospective case controlled study.

Sixteen women, with uterine fibroids in pregnancy, who were treated by caesarean myomectomy, were compared retrospectively with 16 women, without uterine fibroids who had caesarean section during the same period. Myomectomy was performed at caesarean section after delivery of the baby and the placenta, with the administration of intravenous oxytocin. The fibroid defects were occluded with continuous interlocking and fixed sutures. Routine caesarean section was performed on the subjects in the control group. The comparative efficacy of the procedure was measured by comparing pre- and post-operative haemoglobin levels, measured blood loss, need for blood transfusion, post-operative febrile morbidity and length of hospital stay in both groups. Caesarean myomectomy resulted in a mean blood loss of 495 ml (range 200-1000 ml) compared with 355 ml (range 150-900 ml) in the control group (P =0.907). The caesarean myomectomy group had a mean fall in haemoglobin level of 1.7 g/dl compared with a fall of 1.4 g/dl in the control group. There were no significant differences between the groups in the need for blood transfusion, post-operative febrile morbidity or length of hospital stay. The results indicate that caesarean myomectomy is safe and offers no significant increased risk to the patient over caesarean section alone. This is beneficial to the health sector by the avoidance of an interval myomectomy hence justifying the cost effectiveness of the procedure.