GynoFiles

In a new study at the Mayo clinic they looked at the patients that underwent enedometrial ablation and also had a prior C-section to see if there was any greater risk of post endometrial ablation surgery. About 23% of their patient population had had a C-section before, which is a bit less than the national C-section overall rate of closer to 30%, but likely fairly close to their overall C-section rate. So just from the rate of C-section in this population we would have to say that a C-section would not protect against or cause a patient to need endometrial ablation! No additional complications were seen in these women, and two patients in each group: with a prior C-section, and without a prior C-section had a hole made in the uterine wall during the surgery so that it was concluded that statistically it was about the same risk although there were fewer women in the group that had had C-section, so a slight trend towards risk. In their study population there was no reduced effectiven...

A gynecologist, Dr. Stovall was quoted that hysterectomy is "highly effective in ameliorating chronic pelvic pain but less effective in resolving it." About 1/10 or slightly greater hysterectomies are performed for pelvic pain indications. It you have a specific condition to cure: pelvic inflammatory disease, endometriosis, or post endometrial ablation syndrome, then fixing the pain is much more likely than if you essentially have no actual condition to fix and only pain as a symptom. At least a third of patients who have their hysterectomy for pain will continue to experience pain, and a small, but true percent of patients will have the onset of new pain. Not all the reasons are known, but it's not always a gynecologic cause that produces the pelvic pain! Bowel, bladder, muscle conditions, and the pelvis itself such as pelvic floor myalgias (aches and pains)! Hysterectomy can be the correct treatment for pain in many cases. Depression, overall mental health, and socia...

There are several technologies in use today for endometrial ablation, and those in use have been tested and reported as extremely effective. It is up to your gyno, in consultation with you, to select the procedure she or he thinks will be a successful treatment. There are often choices to be weighed, and this short post is not going to cover them all of course! An interesting article was just published in the October journal called Obstetrics and Gynecology by a group headed up by Dr. Penninx from a research medical center in Amsterdam. What they found was that using the bipolar radiofrequency device was more effective than using the hydrotermablation technique. The NovaSure bipolar technique is a wand of relatively set configuration and it is performed "blindly" after insertion. The HydroThermAblator (HTA) is a technique that is performed while still watching with the view of the hysteroscope (telescope seeing in the uterus). The surgeons compared a study that looked at tw...