OBJECTIVETo compare the clinical characteristics of three subcategories of laparoscopic hysterectomy: total laparoscopic hysterectomy (TLH) and two subcategories of laparoscopic-assisted vaginal hysterectomy (LAVH): LAVHs and LAVHb.

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 393 patients underwent laparoscopic hysterectomy, including TLH (n=178), LAVHa (n=177), and LAVHb (n=38), in our hospital from September 2002 to September 2005.

RESULTSMyoma and adenomyosis of uterus were the most common diseases in this study, accounting for 66.9%, 38.4%, and 52.6% in TLH group, LAVHa group, and LAVHb group, respectively. The mean surgery duration and blood loss were not significantly different between TLH group and LAVHa group (P > 0.05), but were significantly less in TLH group than in LAVHb group (P < 0.05). The bulk of uterus in TLH group was significantly bigger than in other two groups (P < 0.05). The incidence of major complications in the TLH group (9. 0%) was lower than in LAVHa group (14.1%) and in LAVHb group (18.4%), but without statistical significance. Conclusion Compared with LAVH, TLH is feasible to deal with bigger uterus with less blood loss and shorter surgery duration and without more frequent complications.