Vaginal Hysterectomy Performed Under General Versus Neuraxial Regional Anesthesia: Comparison of Patient Characteristics and 30-Day Outcomes Using Propensity Score–Matched Cohorts

Objectives Compared with surgery under general anesthesia (GA), surgery under neuraxial regional anesthesia (RA) has been associated with economic and clinical benefits in certain populations. Our aim was to compare preoperative and postoperative characteristics and 30-day outcomes, including intraoperative complications, for patients undergoing benign vaginal hysterectomy under GA versus RA. Methods This is a retrospective cohort study of patients who underwent vaginal hysterectomy for benign indications between 2015 and 2019 using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database. Patients were identified using Current Procedural Terminology codes and stratified into GA and RA groups. Propensity score matching was performed to account for selection bias between anesthesia groups. Results Of 18,030 vaginal hysterectomies performed during this study period, 17,472 (96.9%) were performed under GA and 558 (3.1%) under RA. The RA group was older, more likely to be White, and more likely to have a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and chronic steroid use (P < 0.01 for all); they were less likely to be discharged the same day (8.6% vs 12.2%, P = 0.01). In the matched cohort, there were similar proportions of major, minor, and composite complications between RA and GA groups (major: odds ratio [OR], 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.51–1.78; minor: OR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.74–1.88; composite: OR, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.75–1.64). Similar proportions of same-day discharge were observed (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.47–1.10). Conclusions Although RA comprises only 3% of the anesthetic modalities used for benign vaginal hysterectomies, it is associated with a similar incidence of postoperative complications compared with general anesthesia.