Is peritoneal closure necessary after abdominal hysterectomy?

For years, gynecologic surgeons have considered the closure of the visceral and parietal peritoneum to be a necessary step after an abw x dominal hysterectomy 1]3 . The re-epithelialization of the peritoneum occurs simultaneously throughout the surgical site, because the mesothelial cells migrate into the supportive matrix and initiate multiple sites of w x repair 4 . Therefore, we decided to evaluate the clinical outcome of women who underwent an abdominal hysterectomy with or without peritoneal closure. Between 1 January 1992 and 31 December 1995, 240 patients aged 36]60, who were undergoing a total abdominal hysterectomy for benign uterine disease, were studied. We performed the closure of peritoneum until 31 December 1993, on patients which we have considered the control group. The study group