Intravenous ascorbic acid (vitamin C) administration in myomectomy: a prospective, randomized, clinical trial

Background To assess the usefulness of using ascorbic acid (vitamin C) administration in abdominal myomectomy. Materials and methods A total of 102 patients were divided two groups in this prospective, clinical trial. Group A had received 2 g of ascorbic acid during a myomectomy, and group B had a myomectomy without any interventions. The operative time, blood loss, days of hospitalization, post-operative complications and rate of blood transfusions were compared between the two groups. Results The blood loss (521.44 +/- 199.24 vs. 932.9 +/- 264.38 ml; p value <0.001), duration of the operation time (42 +/- 13.9 vs. 68 +/- 21.7 min; p value < 0.001), days of hospitalization (2.7 +/- 0.69 vs. 3.1 +/- 0.59 days; p value 0.002) in group A were significantly less than in group B (p value 0.001). The chance risk ratio of a blood transfusion in group A was 0.4 (7.7 vs. 18% 95% CI of 0.1-1; p value 0.07). There was a significant correlation between the volume of bleeding and post-operative complications in both groups (p value in group A = 0.03; in group B = 0.004). Conclusion The administration of ascorbic acid (vitamin C) in abdominal myomectomy could reduce the blood loss during the procedure, operation time and days of hospitalization.