Ovarian Activity Following Hysterectomy

Retention of normal ovarian function after hysterectomy

“…for the 99% of women who did not complain of fre¬ quent hot flushes, there was no significant effect of either age or time since hysterectomy on the pregnane¬ diol parameters associated with the length of the ovar¬ ian cycle and with the ability of the corpus luteum to secrete progesterone. This lack of effect is in accord with the evidence of Whitelaw (1958) and of Ellsworth et al (1983) who compared indices of pro¬ gesterone secretion at approximately 2-weekly inter¬ vals in hysterectomized women aged 28-47 years. They found signs of ovulation in 75 and 70% of them respectively and evidence of oestrogen activity in 90 and 80%.…”

“…There may be a long-term effect however, and opinions differ as to whether the removal of the uterus is (Roos, 1984;Siddle, Sarrel & Whitehead, 1987;Kaiser, Kusche & Würz, 1989), or is not (Whitelaw, 1958;De Neef & Hollenbeck, 1966;Anderson, 1973;Ranney & Abu-Ghazaleh, 1977;Ellsworth, Allen & Nisker, 1983) associated with premature ovarian failure. The evidence is often nebulous, being based either on the retrospective examination of patient records (Ranney & AbuGhazaleh, 1977;Roos, 1984;Siddle et al 1987), or on hormonal or histological data obtained during the course of a single day (De Neef & Hollenbeck, 1966;Kaiser et al 1989) or cycle (Whitelaw, 1958;Ellsworth et al 1983). Such information is difficult to interpret ; identification of the complex changes which occur as the ovaries start to fail (Metcalf, Donald & Livesey, 1981a;Metcalf, 1988) requires a different approach.…”