Type of Surgery
Information
Last updated: 02/17/2009
As with any operation, there is a risk of complications due to anesthesia, wound infection, or injury to adjacent organs or structures.
In the case of pelvic exenteration, the following complications are also possible:
- hemorrhage that...
may require a blood transfusion - injury to the bowel
- urinary tract infection
- urinary retention requiring permanent use of a catheter
- bowel obstruction
After removal of the reproductive organs, women will no longer have monthly periods nor will they be able to become pregnant. For men, surgery involving the prostate and the nerves around the rectum may also result in the inability to produce sperm or to have an erection.
In the case of orbital exenteration, the following complications have been known to occur:
- growth of an orbital cyst (rare)
- chronic throbbing orbital pain
- sinusitis (nasal stuffiness)
- ear problems
- reoccurrence of malignancy
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Other Information
Pelvic exenteration (or pelvic evisceration) is a radical surgical treatment that removes all organs from a person's pelvic cavity. The urinary bladder, urethra, rectum, and anus are removed. The procedure leaves the person with a permanent colostomy and vesicostomy. In women, the vagina, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, and in some cases the vulva are removed. In men, the prostate is removed.
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