Background and Objectives: Laparoscopic hysterectomy is one of the surgical treatment options for endometriosis. A rare complication of this surgical procedure is vaginal cuff dehiscence, with an incidence of 0.03% to 0.30%. Sexual intercourse may be the main triggering event. It is unclear if patients with endometriosis are more prone to develop vaginal cuff dehiscence than other women undergoing laparoscopic hysterectomy. Methods: We present the cases of women aged 35 to 46 years who underwent laparoscopic endometriosis surgery. In all patients the vaginal cuff was opened with a high-energy surgical device and closed with an absorbable suture. After 60 to 194 d, the patients developed symptoms including acute abdominal pain and fever shortly after or during coitus and were diagnosed with vaginal cuff dehiscence. Results: Patients undergoing surgical treatment for endometriosis may experience poor wound healing of the vaginal cuff due to the frequent use of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues before surgery. Contributing to this may be the use of a high-energy surgical device when opening the vaginal cuff. Resuming sexual activities before proper healing of the wound has occurred may then trigger vaginal cuff dehiscence. Conclusion: Women with endometriosis might be prone to develop vaginal cuff dehiscence, not because of the endometriosis itself but because of a combination of patient-specific factors present in women with endometriosis. Surgeons treating women with endometriosis should be aware of this.

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IntroductionEndometriosis can cause chronic pain and subfertility thereby negatively affecting quality of life (QoL). Surgical removal of endometriosis lesions leads to improved health-related QoL, although not to the level of QoL of healthy controls. Pain intensity and cognitions regarding pain can play a crucial role in this health-related QoL following surgical treatment. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a psychological treatment. In patients with chronic pain caused by a variety of medical conditions, CBT is effective in improving QoL. We designed a research protocol to investigate the effect of CBT on QoL in patients with endometriosis-associated chronic pain who are undergoing surgery.Methods and analysisThis is a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial in which 100 patients, undergoing endometriosis removal surgery due to endometriosis-associated chronic pain, will be randomised between post-surgery usual care with CBT and post-surgery usual care only. Participants in the CBT group will additionally receive seven sessions of CBT, focused on expectancy management, cognitions regarding pain and emotional and behavioural impact of pain. To determine the primary outcome Quality of life, both groups will complete questionnaires assessing QoL. The secondary outcomes pain intensity, pain cognitions, fatigue and perceived stress are also measured using questionnaires. Additionally, a marker for stress (cortisol extracted from a hair sample) will be assessed at T0 (baseline assessment), T1 (post-intervention; 2 weeks after completion of all CBT sessions) and T2 (follow-up; 14 weeks after T1). Statistical analysis will be performed using SPSS software.Ethics and disseminationThe study protocol has been approved by the Medical Ethical Committee of the region Arnhem-Nijmegen from the Radboud University Medical Centre on 2 September 2020. The findings of this study will be published in scientific journals and will be presented at scientific conferences.Trial registration numberNCT04448366.