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.
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
Nazar N
NN
Amso
Hervé
H
Fernandez
George
G
Vilos
Claude
C
Fortin
Peter
P
McFaul
Monika
M
Schaffer
P F M
PF
Van der Heijden
Marlies Y
MY
Bongers
Barry
B
Sanders
Bernard
B
Blanc
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