Vaginal bleeding after endometrial cancer surgery

  Many patients are nervous about some symptoms after surgery, such as vaginal bleeding, lower abdominal cramps, leg swelling, etc. Some of these symptoms are normal, some need further examination to clarify the cause, let’s talk about them in detail.  1. Vaginal bleeding: During laparoscopic surgery, the vagina will be closed with sutures, so the vagina usually does not bleed in the first few days after surgery. Patients may start bleeding in small amounts about half a month to a month after surgery, usually because the absorbable sutures in the vaginal suture are absorbed or the sutures are loosened and fall off during the absorption process, resulting in bleeding. Usually the blood is not bright red, but a dark red blood discharge. The amount of bleeding will not exceed the amount of menstruation, and a pad will be enough every day, which is normal.  If the bleeding is particularly heavy, more than the amount of menstruation and brightly colored, you should come to the hospital in time. This situation may be caused by infection of the vaginal dissection, which is abnormal.  2. Vaginal discharge: The vagina may discharge a small amount of odorless discharge in the first few days after surgery, which is normal. However, if the discharge has an odor, you should also seek medical attention.  In addition, if you say that the vagina excludes a particularly large amount of translucent yellow fluid, you should go to the hospital in time. In this case, it is highly suspected that there is a fistula in the bladder or ureter (in simple terms, there is a channel between the bladder or ureter and the vagina and urine is leaking into the vagina).  3, abdominal pain: many patients have pain after surgery, if the pain is gradually reduced, do not pay much attention to it. However, if the pain is unbearable and becomes more severe day by day, and may be accompanied by fever, it may be caused by inflammation and needs to be seen by the hospital in time.  4. Leg swelling: the swelling of the patient’s legs after surgery is related to lymph node dissection. The flow of pelvic lymph nodes is blocked after lymphatic clearance, so it may cause the following conditions to form edema: (1) local lymphatic cyst compression: after local lymphatic reflux is blocked, lymphatic fluid will gather into cysts, ranging from a few centimeters to more than a dozen centimeters. Because lymph grows around blood vessels, lymphatic cysts that compress the veins of the lower limbs can cause swelling of the legs. In this case, the patient needs to have an abdominal ultrasound to see if there are any pelvic lymphatic cysts. It is not difficult to deal with lymphatic cysts, just local puncture under ultrasound guidance to drain the cystic fluid, and the effect is immediate.  (2) Lower extremity venous thrombosis: Because surgical anesthesia causes blood flow deceleration and surgery causes increased platelet cohesion. These are the factors for the formation of thrombosis. The symptoms of lower limb venous thrombosis include pain, swelling and numbness in the lower limbs, and can even cause pulmonary embolism. The first 3 days after surgery is the high-risk period for thrombosis, and the doctor will give anticoagulation treatment and tell the patient to wear compression band (elastic stocking) to prevent the formation of thrombosis, so you don’t need to worry too much.  (3) Lymphedema: Some patients may develop lymphedema, which appears only after a long period of time after surgery. It is more troublesome to deal with and needs to be dealt with at the specialized lymphatic department.  5) Vaginal bleeding during sex life: Generally, the wound basically recovers after 2 months of surgery and sex life can be resumed. However, because of the removal of ovaries and less estrogen nourishment, the patient’s vagina may be atrophied and the mucous membrane is thinner, so it will scrape and bleed during sex, so a little lubricant can be used appropriately. Vaginal metastasis of endometrial cancer is rare, but if you are not sure, you can still come to the hospital for examination.