FIBROIDS AND PREGNANCY MISCARRIAGES:
Do fibroids cause recurrent miscarriages? While there is no consensus among experts, the preponderance of evidence does suggest that fibroids can cause women to experience multiple pregnancy miscarriages. The reasons are not entirely clear, but most believe fibroids can exert this negative effect by several means. First, fibroids can distort the shape of the uterus or otherwise obstruct the proper growth of a pregnancy simply as a result of their physical presence. Second, the blood supply of the pregnancy can be diverted to a growing fibroid. In all of these cases, pregnancies can miscarry. The benefits of surgically removing fibroids seem to reflect these hypotheses. For example, the medical literature shows that pregnancy rates have been reported as high as 60% after myomectomy, regardless of which type of myomectomy is performed.
If you’ve been experiencing recurrent miscarriages or are otherwise experiencing fertility issues, it’s worth it to seek out medical care as soon as possible.
FIBROIDS CO-EXISTING WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS?
If you have uterine fibroids, there’s a chance that you may have endometriosis as well. At least that’s what Dr. Nezhat’s many years of research suggest, findings which he first reported back in 2009. Far from an incidental footnote, this research actually has tremendous implications. To begin with, the apparent strong relationship between fibroids and endometriosis may mean that endometriosis is far more prevalent than previously suggested.
This inference can be drawn when one considers reported prevalence rates of fibroids, which countless studies have observed to be between 30% to 50% in the female population. If endometriosis commonly co-exists with fibroids, then this means that it too may occur in a similar percentage of women as fibroids.
To test this hypothesis, Dr. Nezhat looked at 131 women undergoing surgical intervention for symptomatic fibroids and found that 113 also had pathology-confirmed endometriosis, representing an 86% correlation between the two disorders. In a follow-up study with a larger cohort, Dr. Nezhat found the correlation to be even higher, tipping closer toward 90%. Extrapolating from these findings led to some very surprising potential correlations. For example, with a world population of approximately 3.5 billion females, a fibroid prevalence rate of 30% to 50% would means that an estimated 1.05 to 1.75 billion women either have had, will have, or currently do have fibroids. Given Dr. Nezhat’s hypothesis that at least an 86% coexistence of endometriosis and fibroids exists, this would therefore suggest that there are 900 million to 1.5 billion females who also either have had, will have, or currently do have endometriosis. This is a far higher estimate than the 10% prevalence rate generally cited for endometriosis, but would no doubt include many asymptomatic cases as well.
What this means is that, if you’ve been diagnosed with fibroids, it’s a good idea to ask your doctor to check for signs of endometriosis as well.
To read Dr. Nezhat’s entire article, click here
Reference: Huang JQ, Lathi RB, Lemyre M, Rodriguez HE, Nezhat CH, Nezhat C. Coexistence of endometriosis in women with symptomatic leiomyomas. Fertil Steril. Jul 2010;94(2):720-723.
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Drs. Nezhat have pioneered many of these techniques and instrumentations and are among the most, if not the most, experienced surgeons in treating fibroids.