Myomectomy fever: testing the dogma

Abstract

Objective: To test the hypothesis that elevated temperature is more common after abdominal myomectomy than after hysterectomy.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Patient(s): One hundred one women who underwent abdominal myomectomy and 160 women who underwent total abdominal hysterectomy for benign disease from 1988-1993.

Intervention(s): Abdominal myomectomy.

Main outcome measure(s): Temperature of > or = 38.5 degrees C within 48 hours after operation.

Result(s): Although univariate analysis showed that the incidence of elevated temperature was slightly greater among patients who underwent myomectomy (33% versus 26%, relative risk 1.29, 95% confidence interval 0.88-1.90), multivariate logistic regression analysis showed a 3.29 relative risk of elevated temperature (95% confidence interval 1.56-6.96) with myomectomy after controlling for age, parity, estimated blood loss, and treatment by the general gynecology service.

Conclusion(s): After controlling for confounders, myomectomy was found to be an independent predictor for fever in the first 48 hours after operation.