Uterine endometrial thermal balloon therapy for the treatment of menorrhagia: long-term multicentre follow-up study.
BACKGROUND
Initial reports from observational and randomized trials of uterine endometrial thermal balloon therapy (UBT) suggested good results as judged by return to eumenorrhoea or less and patient satisfaction. Long-term follow-up data remained limited by the small numbers of patients and duration of follow-up. We present long-term (4-6 years) follow-up data from a cohort of women previously treated with UBT for menorrhagia.


METHODS
Of the 260 questionnaires sent to women eligible for long-term follow-up from 10 centres, 188 (72%) replies were received. The primary outcome measure was avoidance of hysterectomy.


RESULTS
In women who responded to the questionnaire, 25 had undergone hysterectomy and 21 had had repeat ablation. At 4-6 years after UBT, the probability of avoiding hysterectomy was 86% of all women, and of avoiding re-ablation was 88% of non-hysterectomized women. Overall, the probability of avoiding any surgery was 75%. Women with an axial or retroverted uterus were at greater risk of hysterectomy or re-ablation. Among the participants, 47% of the non-hysterectomized women were amenorrhoeic, 30% were hypomenorrhoeic, 13.6% were eumenorrhoeic and 8.5% had heavy periods.


CONCLUSIONS
This is the first long-term follow-up report of a second-generation endometrial ablation procedure and confirms our initial experience. The high rate of hysterectomy avoidance over 5 years or more is very encouraging for this technology.
Amso
Nazar N
NN
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Wales College of Medicine and the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff CF14 4XN, UK. amsonn@cardiff.ac.uk
Fernandez
Hervé
H
Vilos
George
G
Fortin
Claude
C
McFaul
Peter
P
Schaffer
Monika
M
Van der Heijden
P F M
PF
Bongers
Marlies Y
MY
Sanders
Barry
B
Blanc
Bernard
B
D000328:Adult; D002404:Catheterization; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006979:Hyperthermia, Induced; D007044:Hysterectomy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015993:Life Tables; D008595:Menorrhagia / Q000628:therapy*; D008598:Menstruation; D008875:Middle Aged; D011184:Postoperative Period; D019233:Retreatment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014599:Uterus