Frequency of Immediate Post-operative Gynecologic and Obstetric Complications in a Tertiary Care Center in Karachi

Objective: Postoperative complications are commonly observed during gynecologic and obstetric surgeries that could be controlled by timely management. The factors that involve in these complications could be related with patient or surgeon as well. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine the frequency of immediately reported postoperative complications in gynecologic and obstetric surgeries in a tertiary care center.

Methodology: A retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of Hamdard hospital, Karachi. The duration of this study was 1 year from July 2018 – June 2019. A total of 200 adult female patients of 18 to 65 years having elective or emergency surgical procedure were included in the study. Data was analysed by using SPSS version-16. Mean standard deviation was calculated for age and hospitalization stay. Frequencies and percentages were calculated for presence of comorbidities such as obesity, anaemia and diabetes mellitus and postoperative complications.

Results: The study results showed the mean age was reported 32.04±7.79 years and mean hospital stay was observed 3.38±1.08 days. Comorbidities revealed that 26(13.0%) were obese, 89(44.5%) were anemic and 6(3.0%) had diabetes. Postoperative Nausea and Vomiting was the most common complication observed in 110(55.0%) women followed by fever that was reported in 69(34.5%) cases. Three patients (1.5%) were found to have Paralytic lleus, 23(11.5%) reported abdominal distention, postoperative gastritis was reported in 15(7.5%) cases, bleeding per vagina observed in 7(3.5%) women. Wound dehiscence was found in 2(1.0%) cases and Wound Infection in 10(5.0%) women.

Conclusion: The present study concluded that post-operative nausea and vomiting were observed in most of the patients followed by fever subsequent to gynecologic and obstetric surgeries. Additionally, the incidence of wound infection and wound dehiscence were observed low.