Top 10 Things Women Should Know About Fibroids
The Fibroid Treatment Collective (FTC) offers “Top 10 Things Women Should Know About Fibroids.” Fibroid tumors are benign (non-cancerous) growths that appear on the muscular wall of the uterus. They range in size from microscopic to masses that fill the entire abdominal cavity, in some cases, as large as a five month pregnancy.
The Top 10 are:
1. Uterine fibroids can affect women of all ages, but are most common in women ages 40 to 50.
2. Depending on size, location and number of fibroids, common symptoms include:
- Pelvic pain and pressure
- Excessive bleeding, including prolonged periods and passage of clots, which can lead to anemia.
- Abdominal swelling
- Pressure on the bladder, leading to frequent urination
- Pressure on the bowel, leading to constipation and bloating
- Infertility
3. No one is sure why women develop fibroids which affect 40% of women over 35 years in America and have a high rate of incidence among African Americans. There is a possible link between uterine fibroid tumors and estrogen production.
4. Fibroids are diagnosed with an ultrasound in their gynecologist’s office. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is also used to determine how fibroids can be treated and provide information about any underlying disease.
5. Uterine fibroids can be treated with surgery, including hysterectomy, which removes the entire uterus, and myomectomy, which removes the fibroids but leaves the uterus. Both are major surgeries.
6. Approximately 600,000 hysterectomies are performed annually in the United States, about 300,000 due to uterine fibroids.
7. Over 50 percent of women who get hysterectomies have their ovaries removed, rendering them infertile.
8. Embolization has emerged as the safest, simplest, cost effective way to treat fibroids. Embolization requires a very small incision. Embolization basically cures fibroids by starving them.
9. Uterine Fibroid Embolization has an overall success rate of 94 percent.
10. Recurrence after embolization has not occurred. This is one of its major advantages over myomectomy, where fibroids which have been surgically removed often grow back.
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