We had 65 Caesarean hysterectomies from 1960-1982 at our hospital. 43 patients were elected for various reasons: contraception 26, fibromatosis 13, intraepithelial neoplasia 4. 22 had vital indications: rupture of the uterus 12, placenta increta/percreta 5, abruptio placentae 3, atony 2. The time we needed for the operation was up to 100 minutes in the elective group, 160 minutes in the non-elective group. In vital indications, postoperative morbidity was higher than when treatment was elective. In the group of vital indication, 4 patients died, whereas no patient died if operation was performed on an elective basis.