GynoFiles

Vitamin D has come out of the closet as only a nutrient for bone health, and has grabbed the spotlight as a component that is essential for many aspects of women's health. The newest buzz on vitamin D is that proper levels can help prevent uterine fibroids in women. In the May issue of Epidemiology a group of researchers has linked Vitamin D to uterine fibroids.   The researchers studied a group of white women and a group of black women for whom they measured blood levels of vitamin D. The cut off for health vitamin D level in this study was 20, although many experts would set that number much higher. They then asked the groups of women health history. Uterine fibroids, or leiomyomata are common muscle cell growths in a woman's uterus. There seems to be both increased cells and thickened substances between the cells in the case of uterine fibroids. The growths can be so small as to permanently escape detection, or so large that the uterus itself can harbor growths the siz...

Women who run to the bathroom too often might think they have an infection or perhaps an Over Active Bladder, but they may have another gynecologic reason. Medications to treat Over Active Bladder can be very effective, but is not the only answer for many women. But women who void too frequently may also have uterine fibroids ! If you also have pelvic pressure, discomfort with intercourse, heavy periods, there may be other reasons. We are currently recruiting for a uterine fibroid study that utilizes medication rather than surgery as the treatment . Call 217-356-3736 or contact us through Women's Health Practice if interested.

 Submucus Fibroid  Fibroid on Ultrasound Uterus Showing Fibroid Interiors These pictures are all of the round muscle knots called uterine fibroids. Usually your physician can feel the fibroids, that are either on the outside of the uterus or ones that make your uterus large, on a pelvic examination. Not every fibroid will need treatment, and we wonder should hysterectomies be done for heavy uterine bleeding with fibroids? Most gynos say most often no a uterine fibroid will not necessarily require surgery, definitely not initially. There are other things to try. And many women haven’t even heard of some of their alternatives for the treatment of these uterine muscle tumors, and there are new ones being developed. Uterine fibroids are the most common gynecologic tumor. And with over 500,000 hysterectomies being done in the USA each year for bleeding, we can actually save a lot of uteri and avoid complications with fewer days out of one’s life if alternatives are eval...

Xu and Xu and Zhu, and co-workers have done a fascinating study that was buried in the very back of the September issue of Contraception (good thing GynoGab Gal does the cover to cover of the good ones!). Working in Jiangsu, China they have discovered that the progestin component, the levonorgestrel, may actually both suppress the growth and cause death of uterine fibroid cells! WoW! These researchers have been studying the fine points of fibroid growth. We know that it's probably a chromosome glitch in a single uterine muscle cell that gets that fibroid cell's growth unleashed and causes a tumor to grow. So they did a study of cells in culture from twenty women with fibroids who had hysterectomy. They point out that the growth, based on active DNA (ok, for the accurate scientists, actual mRNA phase of growth) was more active in the progesterone (luteal, second half) of the menstrual cycle, but paradoxically the growth of fibroids is somewhat restricted during phases of pr...