(002) Transfeminine Genital Reconstructive Surgery Complications Based on Insurance Claims Data

Abstract

Introduction Transfeminine genital reconstructive surgery is an important part of gender affirmation for many transgender women. Currently, various vaginoplasty techniques are performed by different surgeons across the United States. Surgical outcomes of individual surgeons and groups have been published in the literature, however complications using an insurance claims database have yet to be reported. Objective Our objective is to present post-vaginoplasty complication rates among surgeons in the United States using a large claims database. Methods A retrospective review was conducted of all transgender women who underwent vaginoplasty using IBM MarketScan insurance claims database between 2011-2020. Baseline patient characteristics, including age, obesity, smoking status, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and the region the surgery was performed were obtained. Patients were followed after surgery to identify complications. Common surgical complications, such as bleeding/hematoma, wound dehiscence, postsurgical infection, DVT, PE, and MI, and complications specific to gender affirming surgery, such as pelvic pain, dyspareunia, rectal injury, urinary issues, urethral stricture, loss of neovaginal depth, and prolapse, were investigated using ICD-9/ICD-10 and CPT codes. Hazard ratios (HRs) were calculated to determine how baseline factors influenced complications. Results A total of 1588 privately insured patients who underwent vaginoplasty for gender affirmation with 414 different surgeons were identified. The mean age was 34 years (22-53 years), 16% were obese and 8% were smokers. The majority (70%) of patients had a CCI of 0. Overall, at a mean follow-up of 14 months (5-28 months), 66% of patients had a complication. A common surgical complication occurred in 19% of patients and a gender affirming surgery complication occurred in 61% of patients. Among those with a gender affirming surgery complication, 17% had pelvic pain, 3% had dyspareunia, <1% had a rectal injury, 21% had urinary issues, 19% had a urethral stricture, 16% had loss of neovaginal depth and 15% had prolapse. A CCI of 2 had a HR of 1.82 (p=0.004) for a common complication and age had a HR of 1.01 (p<0.001) for a gender affirming complication. Smoking was associated with a statistically significant HR for both common complications and gender affirming complications (1.48 and 1.26, respectively; P<0.05). Conclusions Post-vaginoplasty, the majority of patients have at least one complication based on insurance claims data. All patients should be counseled on smoking cessation prior to surgery to potentially decrease the risk of complications. Disclosure No