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Fibroids: Women
built 608 days ago
Fibroids are the most common tumors of the female genital tract, affecting 20 to 50 percent of women in the United States. Symptoms may include heavy bleeding, clotting, pain and infertility. The discomfort and embarrassment of these symptoms lead many women to seek treatment. However fibroids often fail to respond to medical therapy. Until now that left only surgical procedures such as a hysterectomy or myomectomy (surgical removal of the fibroids). Such procedures meant a longer hospital stay and recuperation time, along with an altering of lifestyles for many of these patients.
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Fibroids are non-cancerous (benign) growths of the muscle wall of the uterus. They are probably responsible for more unnecessary gynecologic surgery than any other condition. It is a staggering number, but about 600,000 American women have a hysterectomy every year. And about 30% of those hysterectomies, 180,000 in all, are performed because of fibroids. For many years these growths have been surgically removed, often because of fear of the problems they might cause in the future. And, those problems are often overstated.
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Fibroids are common in all women but are particularly common in African-American women where the incidence is 2-3 times higher than the general population. They ... tend to develop fibroids at an earlier age and to a greater extent. The incidence of fibroids is also increased in obese women. A lower incidence is noted in women who exercise and have lean bodies, smokers, those bearing more children, and those bearing children later in life.
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Fibroids may ... cause pain or a feeling of pressure or heaviness in the lower pelvic area (the area between the hip bones), the back or the legs. Some women have pain during sexual intercourse. Others have a constant feeling that they need to urinate. There may also be a feeling of pressure in the bowel. Some women have constipation or bloating.
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Fibroids can be detected by chance when women have ultrasound scans during pregnancy. Fibroids can ... be detected by hysteroscopy, where a small telescope is passed through the cervix to view the inside of the uterus, or by laparoscopy, where a camera is passed into the abdomen through a keyhole incision and the outer wall of the uterus can be seen.
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Fibroids are smooth muscle tumors that develop in the wall of the uterus. These benign non-cancerous tumors are very common in women age 35 and older. Fibroids are especially common in African American women where they tend to be more symptomatic. It is not uncommon for women to have more than one fibroid. Fibroids can range in size from as small as a quarter to as large or larger than a cantaloupe. While most fibroids are asymptomatic, the size and location of some fibroids may cause symptoms such as pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, bloating, urinary frequency and constipation.
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