What is Radical Hysterectomy?
The uterus and cervix sit in the pelvis between bladder and rectum. The ureters run through the parametrium beside the cervix, and the pelvic nerves that influence bladder emptying travel nearby, so identifying those structures is part of a radical rather than a simple hysterectomy. A simple hysterectomy removes the uterus and cervix; a radical operation takes additional parametrial tissue and a vaginal cuff because that is where early cervical cancer can spread. Pelvic nodes, and sometimes para-aortic nodes, are assessed in the same sitting.
