Hysterectomy

Preparing for Your Hysterectomy Surgery Journey

Embarking on the path to hysterectomy surgery through Healthcare Abroad involves a meticulous and supportive process designed to ensure your comfort and peace of mind. Here are the essential steps to guide you before you travel:

1. Identification of Treatment Need:

Your journey commences with your General Practitioner (GP) or consultant identifying the need for hysterectomy surgery. This initial step ensures a clear understanding of your medical requirements.

2. Contacting Healthcare Abroad:

Once the need for treatment is established, you or your GP initiates contact with Healthcare Abroad. This pivotal step marks the beginning of the process to facilitate your hysterectomy surgery in an EU country under the Cross Border Directive.

3. Referral and Diagnostic Coordination:

The Healthcare Abroad team collaborates with your GP to organize a referral letter and any necessary diagnostic tests. This collaborative effort ensures that all required information is shared with the chosen hospital abroad.

4. Hospital and Surgeon Matching:

Leveraging our extensive network, the Healthcare Abroad team meticulously matches a hospital and surgeon that aligns with your specific requirements for hysterectomy surgery.

5. Financial Assistance:

Should you require financial support, Healthcare Abroad assists in organizing your finances through Irish credit unions, ensuring a seamless and stress-free process tailored to your needs.

6. Surgery Planning and Documentation:

The team liaises with the chosen hospital, arranging surgery dates and submitting your files for review. This careful coordination streamlines the pre-operative preparations for your hysterectomy surgery.

7. Healthcare Plan Confirmation:

Once your comprehensive healthcare plan for hysterectomy surgery is agreed upon, Healthcare Abroad confirms your travel dates and healthcare schedule with the hospital team, providing clarity and confidence.

8. Pre-Travel Preparation:

With all arrangements in place, you are now ready to embark on your journey. Upon arrival at the hospital, an out-patient appointment with your consultant is scheduled for the day before the hysterectomy surgery, ensuring any pre-operative concerns are addressed.

9. Post-Treatment Discharge:

Upon discharge, Healthcare Abroad finalizes all necessary paperwork on your behalf and submits it to the Health Service Executive (HSE). This meticulous process ensures a timely refund and minimizes post-surgery administrative burdens.

10. Communication with Local Medical Records:

To maintain continuity of care, your GP receives a comprehensive report from the hospital regarding the hysterectomy surgery. This report serves to update your local medical records, ensuring a seamless transition back into your local healthcare system.

With these carefully orchestrated steps, Healthcare Abroad is committed to providing you with a supportive and stress-free experience as you prepare for your hysterectomy surgery abroad.

A hysterectomy is an operation to remove your womb (uterus). After the operation you will no longer be able to have children. If you have not yet gone through the menopause, you will no longer have periods.

Why is it Recommended?

A hysterectomy is used to treat conditions that affect the female reproductive system, such as heavy periods (menorrhagia), chronic (long-term) pelvic pain, non-cancerous tumours (fibroids) and cancer of the ovaries, womb, cervix or fallopian tubes.

A hysterectomy is a major operation with a long recovery time. It is usually only considered after alternative, less invasive treatments have been tried.

Types of hysterectomy

There are different types of hysterectomy. The type you have depends on the reason for your surgery and how much of the womb and surrounding reproductive system can safely be left in place. The main types include:

• Total hysterectomy: this is the most commonly performed operation. The womb and cervix (neck of the womb) are removed
• Subtotal hysterectomy: the main body of the womb is removed leaving the cervix (neck of the womb) in place.
• Total hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy: the womb, cervix, fallopian tubes (salpingectomy) and the ovaries (oophorectomy) are removed.
• Radical hysterectomy: the womb and surrounding tissues are removed, including the fallopian tubes, part of the vagina, ovaries, lymph glands and fatty tissue.

There are three ways to perform a hysterectomy:

• Vaginal hysterectomy: the womb is removed through a cut in the top of the vagina.
• Abdominal hysterectomy: the womb is removed through a cut in the lower abdomen.
• Laparoscopic hysterectomy (keyhole surgery): the womb is removed through a number of small cuts in the abdomen.

Surgical menopause

If you have a hysterectomy that also removes your ovaries, you will go through the menopause immediately following your operation, regardless of your age. This is known as a surgical menopause.

If a hysterectomy leaves one or both of your ovaries intact, there is a chance you will go through the menopause within five years of your operation. Hysterectomy is a common operation. Most hysterectomies are performed on women aged between 40 and 50.

HRT

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) involves giving hormones to women when the menopause starts to replace those that the body no longer produces.

The Female Reproductive Organs

The female reproductive system is made up of the following:

• Womb (uterus): a pear-shaped organ in the middle of your pelvis where a baby develops. During a period the lining of the womb is shed.
• Cervix: the neck of the womb, where the womb meets the vagina. The cervix is the lower part of the womb and not separate.
• Vagina: a muscular tube below the cervix.
• Fallopian tubes: These are also called oviducts or uterine tubes. They are the two tubes that connect the uterus to the ovaries in the female reproductive system.
• Ovaries: Ovaries are the pair of reproductive organs that produce eggs and sex hormones in females.