If you have any questions about your health, seek medical assistance as soon as possible. If you have any of the following, notify your health care provider: Irregular or heavy menstrual cycle, bleeding between periods Pelvic or abdominal pain Fever or night sweats Increasing abdominal girth Concerns about pregnancy or inability to become pregnantContact your health care provider immediately or go to a hospitals emergency department if you have any of the following: Menstrual bleeding soaking through more than 3 pads per hour Severe or prolonged pelvic or abdominal pain Dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, or chest pain associated with vaginal bleeding Vaginal bleeding associated with pregnancy or possible pregnancyExams and TestsYour health care provider will discuss your medical history and conduct a physical examination that includes a pelvic exam. Often your doctor can feel an irregular uterus. If further studies are indicated, your doctor may choose one of the following tests to help and to exclude more serious disease:A transvaginal or pelvic ultrasound can help identify the number, size, and shape of your fibroids. This test uses sound waves to give doctors an image of your pelvic area. A wand is passed over your abdomen and may be inserted into your vagina. An endometrial biopsy is performed by taking a tissue sample from the uterus. A small instrument is passed through your cervical opening to &8220;grab&8221; small samples of tissue inside your uterus. It can be performed at your doctors office. A hysteroscopy looGland fibroidsks at the uterus by passing a small fibre optic camera through the opening of the cervix.
which is then x-rayed to identify the anatomy of these structures. Laparoscopy is a surgical procedure. The surgeon will insert a small fibre optic camera into your abdomen to look directly at internal organs. Fibroids TreatmentTreatment for fibroids depends on your symptoms, the size and location of your fibroids, your age (how close you are to menopause), your desire to have children, and your general health.Self-Care at HomeNo specific self-care is available for fibroids. But if you have abnormal or heavy menstrual bleeding, keep a diary of your menstrual cycle in order to provide your health care provider with that information.Medical TreatmentIn most cases, treatment is not necessary, particularly if you have no symptoms, have small tumours, or you have gone through menopause. Abnormal vaginal
in preparation for surgery to remove them. It may also help you avoid surgery entirely by shrinking the fibroids and the problems they are causing. Side effects related to low oestrogen, seen with GnRH analogs, may be less common. RU-486 can induce miscarriage, so this medication should be used with caution if you wish to become pregnant. SurgerySurgery options for treatment have both risks and benefits. Be sure to discuss these risks and benefits with your doctor. Some treatment options may not be right for you because of the characteristics of your fibroids or other health ctors. Myomectomy is the surgical removal of the fibroids only. This can be accomplished through hysteroscopy, laparoscopy, or, less frequently, an open procedure (an incision in your abdomen).
It is the most commonly performed surgical procedure in the treatment of fibroids and is considered a cure. Depending on the size of the fibroid, hysterectomy can be performed through your vagina or abdomen. Use of GnRH agonists can reduce the size of the fibroid to allow the less invasive surgery through the vagina. In past experience, less blood loss has occurred using hysterectomy than myomectomy. But this may change as preoperative hormone treatment is improved and blood loss is reduced because hormone use helps the tumours shrink. Hysterectomy with removal of the llopian tubes and ovaries (called a salpingo-oophorectomy) may be indicated if cancer or ovarian masses are present.
Fibroids are stimulated by the hormone oestrogen, produced naturally in your body. These growths can show up as early as age 20 and shrink after menopause when the body stops producing large amounts of oestrogen. Fibroids can be tiny and cause no problems, but they can also gradually grow to weigh several pounds. Some women with many fibroids may have an inherited tendency toward developing them.The following ctors have been associated with the growth of fibroids:Being overweight, obesity, Never having given birth to a child (called nulliparity), onset of your period prior to age 10, African heritage (occurring 3-9 times more often than in Caucasian women).
sometimes with blood clots Pressure on the bladder, which may cause you to urinate often and feel a sense of urgency to urinate and, rarely, the inability to urinate Pressure on the rectum, resulting in constipation Pelvic pressure, &8220;feeling full&8221; in the lower abdomen, lower abdominal pain Increase in size around your waist and change in abdominal contour (You may need to increase your clothing size but not because of a significant weight gain.) Infertility, which is defined as an inability to become pregnant after 1 year of attempting to get pregnant A pelvic mass discovered by your health care provider during a physical examination
Most fibroids, even large ones, produce no symptoms. These masses are often found during your regular pelvic examination. When you do experience symptoms, the most common are these:Irregular vaginal bleeding or an increase in
A uterine fibroid is the most common benign non cancerous tumor of a womans uterus (womb). Fibroids develop with the uterine wall or attach to it. They may grow as a single tumour or in clusters. Uterine fibroids can cause excessive menstrual bleeding, pelvic pain, and frequent urination. These growths occur in about 25% of all women and are the leading cause of hysterectomy. In the U.S.A. every woman older than 35 years, 1 in 5 has a uterine fibroid. An estimated 600,000 hysterectomies are performed in the US annually, and at least one-third are for fibroids. Medications and newer, less invasive surgery can control the growth of fibroids.
This procedure is done by inserting a catheter (small tube) into an artery of the leg (the femoral artery), using special x-ray video to trace the arterial blood supply to the uterus, then clotting the artery with tiny plastic or gelatin sponge particles tFibroids Questions and Answers? Gland fibroidshe size of grains of sand. This material blocks blood flow to the fibroid and shrinks it. This method may prove to be a good option for women if other methods have not worked or who do not want surgery or may not be good candidates for surgery. A specialist known as an interventional radiologist performs this procedure.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
may require scraping of the uterine cavity in a procedure known as a D&C. If no malignancy (cancer) is found, this bleeding often can be controlled by hormonal medications. Discuss the following treatment options with your health care provider. MedicationsObservation: Your doctor will follow the size and growth of your fibroids over time to make sure no indicators of cancer are present. If you do not have symptoms such as vaginal bleeding or pelvic pain, and if the fibroid is not growing rapidly, no treatment may be needed. You may, however, require more frequent pelvic exams, such as every six months, to check on changes. Medication: You may be given non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, oral contraceptives (birth control pills), gonadotropin releasing hormone agonists, or RU-486.Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, such as ibuprofen (Advil is one example), have been shown to relieve
Oral contraceptive pills are also commonly used in women with fibroids. Although the hormones (including oestrogen) in such birth control pills may increase the size of the fibroid, they often decrease your perceived menstrual blood flow and help with pelvic pain. Gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists are medications that act on the pituitary gland to decrease oestrogen produced by your body. A decrease in oestrogen causes fibroids to decrease in size. This type of medication often is used prior to surgery to shrink the fibroid, to decrease the amount of blood loss during surgery, or to improve your preoperation blood count. The size of the fibroid can be reduced by 50% in 3 months of this type of therapy. But fibroids re-grow once treatment is stopped. Long-term therapy with these medications is limited by the side effects of low oestrogen (much like menopause caused by drugs), which include decreased bone density, hot flashes, and vaginal dryness. The antihormonal drug RU-486 (mifepristone) has also been shown to reduce fibroids by about half. This drug has also been shown to reduce pelvic pain, bladder pressure, and lower back pain. Low doses of this drug may reduce the
The risk of developing cancer is 1 in 3 with 1 in 4 patients dying from the disease. 22% will die of lung cancer, 11% of colon cancer, 8% from breast cancer and 6% from prostate cancer. Over 90% of cancers are curable if detected at Stage 1.For more information visit:
Pre-treatment with GnRH analogs has been shown to decrease blood loss and operative time in women undergoing myomectomy. Myomectomy has also been shown to have a decreased likelihood of injury to the bowel, bladder, or ureter than hysterectomy. The uterus is left intact in this type of procedure, and you may be able to become pregnant.
Fibroids Questions and Answers? Gland fibroids,They can grow into the uterine cavity, into the thickness of the uterine wall, or on the suce of the uterus into the abdominal cavity. Although these tumours are called fibroids, this term is misleading because they consist of muscle tissue, not fibrous tissue.
