No sex advantage with sub-total hysterectomy

The statement that "a sub-total hysterectomy safeguards a woman's sex life" doesn't seem to be valid. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco found that women's interest in sex and their ability to enjoy sexual intercourse is no better a year or so after undergoing a hysterectomy that removes just the uterus above the cervix than after total removal of the uterus and cervix. The more limited sub-total procedure, known as supracervical hysterectomy, is believed to preserve sexual functioning better than total hysterectomy. Previous studies have found no difference between procedures, others continue to report better outcomes with the supracervical procedure. To investigate, the researching team recruited women aged 30 years or older slated to undergo a hysterectomy for abnormal bleeding or symptomatic fibroids. Sixty-eight women were randomly assigned to the supracervical procedure and 67 to total hysterectomy. Women who underwent supracervical hysterectomy scored higher on scales of orgasm frequency and quality 6 months after surgery. By 1 year, however, the differences between the groups had dissipated and by 24 months there were no significant differences between groups in any of the scales of sexual activity or satisfaction. The researchers previously reported that clinical and economic aspects of the two procedures were similar. The analysis confirms and extends findings from studies conducted in other populations that there also seems to be no difference in sexual functioning or health-related quality-of-life between supracervical and total hysterectomy.