Cohort study, 2014
Does a medical procedure for fibroids help premenstrual symptoms?
In women undergoing the procedure for fibroids or adenomyosis, back pain, headache, and digestive symptoms improved significantly. Women with heavy menstrual bleeding saw greater improvement overall.
What they did
Cohort study of 141 women who underwent uterine artery embolization (a procedure for fibroids or adenomyosis). In 39 of these women, 54 premenstrual symptoms were tracked. Women rated symptoms before and 3 to 6 months after the procedure on a scale of 0 to 10.
What they found
Back pain, headache, and gastrointestinal symptoms significantly improved after the procedure. Muscle pain, fatigue, nervousness, breast tenderness, and swelling also improved but not significantly. Women with heavy bleeding showed greater improvement in overall premenstrual symptom scores (mean change -6.4 versus -3.7).
What it means for you
A procedure for fibroids or adenomyosis may help some premenstrual symptoms, particularly in women with heavy bleeding. The main limitation is that this only applies to women with fibroids or adenomyosis, not to women with PMS alone.
141
total women undergoing procedure
39
women with analyzed symptoms
-6.4 vs -3.7
symptom score improvement (with vs without heavy bleeding)
About the study
- Original title
- The effect of uterine artery embolization on premenstrual symptoms in patients with symptomatic fibroids or adenomyosis
- Authors
- Jang D, Kim MD, Lee SJ et al.
- Journal
- Journal of vascular and interventional radiology : JVIR
- Year
- 2014
- Study design
- Cohort study
- Participants
- 141
- What was tested
- Uterine artery embolization
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1016/j.jvir.2014.01.036
Topics
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