Short-term Effects of Salpingectomy During Laparoscopic Hysterectomy on Ovarian Reserve: a Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To examine the short-term effects of salpingectomy during laparoscopic hysterectomy on ovarian reserve when ovarian preservation is planned in view of determining the feasibility of conducting the study on a larger scale.

Design: Pilot randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Tertiary care, academic medical center.

Patient(s): Thirty premenopausal women aged 18 to 45 years undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy with ovarian preservation for benign indications from April 2012 to September 2012.

Intervention(s): Bilateral salpingectomy (n = 15) versus no salpingectomy (n = 15) at the time of laparoscopic hysterectomy with ovarian preservation.

Main Outcome Measure(s): Antimüllerian hormone (AMH) measured preoperatively, at 4 to 6 weeks postoperatively, and at 3 months postoperatively, with operative time and estimated blood loss abstracted from the medical records.

Result(s): The mean AMH levels were not statistically significantly different at baseline (2.26 vs. 2.25 ng/ml), 4 to 6 weeks postoperatively (1.03 vs. 1.25 ng/ml), or 3 months postoperatively (1.86 vs. 1.82 ng/ml) among women with salpingectomy versus no salpingectomy, respectively. There was also no statistically significant temporal change in the mean AMH level from baseline to 3 months postoperatively (-0.07 vs. -0.08 ng/ml) between the two groups. No difference in operative time (116 vs. 115 minutes) or estimated blood loss (70 vs. 91 mL) was observed.

Conclusion(s): Salpingectomy at the time of laparoscopic hysterectomy with ovarian preservation is a safe procedure that does not appear to have any short-term deleterious effects on ovarian reserve, as measured by AMH level. Conducting a trial of this nature that is adequately powered with long-term follow-up evaluation would be feasible and is required to definitively confirm these results.