According to HealthDay, black women are more likely than whites to have severe uterine fibroid symptoms, and 32 percent of black women wait more than five years before seeking medical treatment compared to 17 percent of whites.
Fibroids, which are benign tumor in and around the uterus, affect up to 80 percent of American women before the age of 50, and are the leading cause of hysterectomies.
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Nearly 1,000 women with fibroids responded to a Harris Interactive survey, and close to one-third of those with jobs said they missed work because of symptoms, including heavy or prolonged menstrual bleeding, cramping and fatigue.
Many of the women expressed concern about fibroid treatment. More than three-quarters said they would prefer noninvasive approaches, more than half wanted to preserve their uterus, and younger women were often focused on preserving their fertility.
“I was impressed by how strongly women felt about uterine preservation,” said study author Dr. Elizabeth Stewart, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. “For many women, even if they don’t want fertility, preservation of their uterus is an important goal.”
READ: Should I Consider Fibroid Surgery If They Aren’t Bothering Me?
Fortunately, fibroids won’t necessarily require a hysterectomy, especially if women get medical care early, she said.
Among the other findings: 24 percent of the working women said fibroid symptoms kept them from reaching their career potential, and 41 percent of women saw two or more health care providers before getting a diagnosis.
“Fibroids affect the quality of your life,” said N. Edward Dourron, a reproductive endocrinologist at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif. The survey results mirror what he sees and hears in real life, he said.
It’s no surprise that women often see more than one doctor, said Dr. William Parker, a gynecologist at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center, Santa Monica. “Patients get told they need a hysterectomy, and they see another doctor,” he said.
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The exact cause of fibroids is unknown, Stewart said. Multiple hormonal and genetic factors are believed to play a role.
Doctors disagree about the best treatments for fibroids.
Surgical options fall into two buckets: surgery to remove fibroids, a myomectomy; or surgery to remove the entire uterus, a hysterectomy. Several years ago, when Phillips was on Medicaid, her’ attempts to get a hysterectomy were denied. She was told that her symptoms would end when she reached menopause.
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Traditional fibroid surgery—called an abdominal, or open, myomectomy—requires an incision roughly 8 inches long, a three- to four-day hospital stay and an at-home recovery of six to eight weeks. The fibroids are removed intact, as is the uterus during a traditional hysterectomy.
Laparoscopic myomectomies and hysterectomies feature incisions roughly the size of a quarter, hospital stays of mere hours, and recovery time of a month or less, allowing women to return quickly to their families and jobs and often preserve their fertility. These procedures also lead to fewer complications and deaths than either type of open abdominal surgery.
“I believe treatment needs to be individualized,” Stewart said. Women need to assess where they are in their reproductive lifespan. “Most women get some shrinkage [of their fibroids] at menopause,” she said.
If waiting isn’t an option, treatment choices include medications such as birth control pills, surgery to remove just the fibroids or hysterectomy.
Ablation, a technique that destroys the lining of the uterus, and embolization, which cuts off blood flow to the fibroid to make it shrink, are also options. Focused ultrasound, which uses ultrasound waves to destroy the fibroids, is yet another treatment.
According to Parker, “ultrasound is the least invasive approach, but it has the least amount of data.” It was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2004.
Information on the long-term safety of focused ultrasound, including pregnancy after the ultrasound treatment, is still being collected, Stewart said.
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