Peri-operative Blood Transfusion among Women Undergoing Repair of Obstetric Fistula

Background: Obstetric fistula is a public health problem in the developing world. Surgical repair is the mainstay of treatment. Blood transfusion is not a common practice in fistula surgery. The study aims to determine the rate as well as the predisposing factors for blood transfusion among women who had fistula repair. Methodology: This was a hospital-based retrospective study carried out at the National Obstetric Fistula Centre, Abakaliki, Nigeria. Relevant information was obtained from the records of women who had fistula surgery from December 2008 to June 2014. The information was transferred into a proforma and presented in tables. Data was analysed using SPSS Version 20. The means were compared using the student's t-tests. A P-value of less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Out of 1728 women who had surgery for obstetric fistula, 26 were transfused peri-operatively giving a rate of 1.5%. Out of these, 25 (96.2%) presented with residual fistulae for repeat surgery. All the 26 (100%) women had complicated fistulae. The commonest types of fistulae among the women that were transfused were ureteric (19.5%), intracervical (19.5%) and juxtacervical (19.5%) fistulae. The mean estimated blood loss for women who had transabdominal repair was 539 ml while that for those who transvaginal repair was 494 ml. The difference was not tatistically significant (t-value=0.7803, two-tailed p-value=0.4577). Conclusion: Peri-operative blood transfusion among women with obstetric fistula is an uncommon practice. It is more likely among women with residual fistulae undergoing repeat surgery, complicated fistulae and women with were ureteric, intracervical and juxtacervical fistulae.