Objective Guidance regarding the use of cystoscopy at the time of hysterectomy is lacking in gynecologic oncology. We compare the rate of delayed urinary tract injury in women who underwent cystoscopy at the time of hysterectomy performed by a gynecologic oncologist for benign or malignant indication with those who did not.

Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of patients who had a hysterectomy performed by a gynecologic oncologist recorded in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program between January 2014 and December 2017. The primary outcome was delayed urinary tract injury in the 30-day post-operative period. Secondary outcomes were operative time and urinary tract infection rate. The exposure of interest was cystoscopy at the time of hysterectomy and bivariable tests were used to examine associations.

Results We identified 33 355 women who underwent hysterectomy for benign (41%; n=13 621) or malignant (59%; n=19 734) indications performed by a gynecologic oncologist. Surgical approach was open (39%; n=12 974), laparoscopic or robotic-assisted laparoscopic (55%; n=18 272), and vaginal or vaginally-assisted (6%; n=2109). Overall, 12% of women (n=3873) underwent cystoscopy at the time of surgery; cystoscopy was more commonly performed in laparoscopic (15%; n=2829) and vaginal (12%; n=243) approaches than with open hysterectomy (6%; n=801) (p<0.001). There was no difference in the rate of delayed urinary tract injury in patients who underwent cystoscopy at the time of surgery compared with those who did not (0.4% vs 0.3%, p=0.32). However, patients who underwent cystoscopy were more likely to be diagnosed with a urinary tract infection (3% vs 2%, RR 1.3, 95% CI 1.1 to 1.6). In cases where cystoscopy was performed, median operative time was increased by 9 min (137 vs 128 min, p<0.001).

Conclusion Cystoscopy at the time of hysterectomy performed by a gynecologic oncologist does not result in a lower rate of delayed urinary tract injury compared with no cystoscopy.