Women undergoing vaginal hysterectomy for a non-cancerous condition are unlikely to have concomitant salpingectomy, despite guidelines recommending it should be considered, an Australian study suggests.

However, the procedure is performed prophylactically in most women who have a total laparoscopic, abdominal, or a laparoscopic-assisted vaginal procedure, the authors report in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

According to RANZCOG’s guidelines, consideration should be given to bilateral salpingectomy at the time of hysterectomy for benign disease, as “growing evidence” suggests it may reduce the woman’s risk of ovarian cancer.

The study examined data on more than 6600 women who had undergone hysterectomy for benign indications as recorded by Australian and NZ gynaecologists on the website surgicalperformance.com.