About Us: Medical Articles
Uterine Fibroid Embolization compared with Myomectomy Bruce McLucas, MD, and Louis Adler, MD
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GYNECOLOGY AND OBSTETRICS September 2001 Volume 74 No. 3 pp. 297-299
Summary
SITUATION Although uterine fibroid embolization has been described as having a lower morbidity than myomectomy, no cohort comparison has been attempted to compare morbidity rates in patients who underwent uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) versus myomectomy for treatment of multiple myomata.
SETTING A community hospital
PATIENTS Charts for all patients who underwent myomectomy or elective uterine fibroid embolization during 1999 were evaluated. Patients who had their procedure performed as an emergency were excluded from the study, as were patients for whom embolization was not a stand-alone procedure.
STUDY DESIGN Retrospective chart review.
RESULTS During the study period 16 patients underwent myomectomy 32 had embolization (UFE) for control of their symptomatic myomata. Average length of post-myomectomy hospital stay was 3.6 days, whereas it was 1.1 day for UFE. [P=0.02]. In the myomectomy group five patients (31%,) experienced temperature elevation postoperatively. Seven patients (22%) experienced temprature elevation post UFE. . No other complications were reported in the UFE group. In the myomectomy group two patients received blood transfusion as a consequence of intraoperative blood loss. [P= 0.03] and two patients suffered a paralytic ileus. [P= 0.03].
CONCLUSION Both groups experienced postoperative temperature elevation, but the origin of pyrexia was different in each group . The embolization patients were experiencing post embolization syndrome, given prophylactic antibiotics only, and discharged as planned. The myomectomy group experienced postoperative complication significantly at a higher rate than the UFE group (longer hospital stays, transfusion rates, postoperative ileus than the embolization group).
As an educational service, members of the FTC provide questions and answers regarding fibroids. Please note that the questions and answers are not medical advice and there is no substitute for diagnosis and, where appropriate, treatment by a qualified and licensed physician of your own choosing.