Hope for women after fibroid procedure

According to new research, women can have healthy pregnancies after a procedure to shrink uterine fibroids, called uterine fibroid embolisation. Having fibroids puts a woman at risk of complications during pregnancy. Uterine fibroids can cause excessive menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain and interfere with fertility. The benign growths occur in some percentage of women and are the leading cause of hysterectomy, or removal of the uterus. A relatively new procedure called uterine fibroid embolisation can shrink fibroids, but it was not clear earlier how the procedure affected pregnancy. During the procedure, particles are injected into the arteries supplying the fibroid, which essentially block the blood supply to the fibroids causing it to shrink.Researchers at the University of Toronto in Canada studied a group of 555 women undergoing fibroid embolisation, one-third of whom were interested in conception. 17 reported conceiving during the two years after the procedure. Three pregnancies ended in miscarriage, so a total of 14 babies were born. According to researchers twelve of the women who eventually became pregnant after fibroid embolisation had been childless, and would have stayed so if they had undergone hysterectomy.

All of the women included in the study had symptoms severe enough that hysterectomy was considered to be an option to treat their fibroids. Women with fibroids who want to conceive may opt for another procedure called myomectomy, or surgery to remove their fibroids, if their condition is not too severe. However, the procedure carries a risk of haemorrhage, fibroids can return, and the chances of pregnancy also remain uncertain. Although fibroid embolisation, which requires neither open surgery nor general anaesthesia may one day represent an alternative to myomectomy. Findings show that fibroid embolisation significantly reduced fibroid size and improve symptoms such as heavy blood flow and urinary frequency in the vast majority of women. 91 percent of the women were satisfied with fibroid embolisation. The current findings in fact, offer women hope that they can one day conceive after the procedure. However more research regarding fibroid embolisation on fertility is needed, before it is accepted as the standard treatment for fibroids.

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