LAS VEGAS — The hysterectomy rate was less than 10% among 711 women who underwent global endometrial ablation, results from a long-term, single-center study showed.
Hematometra was present in 25% of the 44 women who had a hysterectomy because of pain and in 2% of the 25 women who had a hysterectomy because of bleeding. This marked the only significant difference between the two groups, according to Dr. Erin Carey, who called these the key findings from what is believed to be the largest study aimed at capturing the clinical and pathological characteristics of women who had a hysterectomy after global endometrial ablation (GEA).
“We know that women who are younger than 45 are more likely to fail global endometrial ablation, as well as women with a history of bilateral tubal ligation and those with a history of preoperative dysmenorrhea,” said Dr. Carey of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Other contributing clinical and pathological factors remain unclear. She reported the study findings at the annual meeting of the AAGL.
Dr. Carey and associates identified 711 women who underwent GEA for menorrhagia between January 1998 and December 2005. They compared data between women who underwent hysterectomy and those who did not during the follow-up period, which lasted a mean of 2.9 years.
Adenomyosis was present in 29% of women who had a hysterectomy for pain and in 28% who had a hysterectomy for bleeding. “Adenomyosis has been thought to be a major factor related to postablation pain syndrome,” Dr. Carey commented. “However, we found that women had a lower rate of adenomyosis than we expected, and the rates were similar in both groups.”
Dr. Carey had no disclosures to make.