Endometrial hydrothermablation: a comparison of short-term clinical effectiveness in patients with normal endometrial cavities and those with intracavitary pathology.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate preprocedure and postprocedure health related quality of life scores and patient satisfaction of women treated with hydrothermablation for abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) with and without endometrial intracavitary pathology.


METHODS
Cohort study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).


METHODS
Two institutions from a large managed care organization.


METHODS
Forty-seven English-speaking premenopausal women with AUB, both with and without leiomyomas or polyps in the endometrial cavity treated from January 2001 through March 2003.


METHODS
Patients had been treated with endometrial hydrothermablation.


RESULTS
A standardized system, validated in English (the Ruta score), was used for evaluating health-related quality-of-life impact of uterine bleeding. Following the index procedure, patients were asked to assess both baseline and current status. A simple five-point satisfaction scale also was administered. Outcomes from subjects with and without documented endometrial structural pathology were compared. Follow-up ranged from 5 to 25 months with a mean of 12.7 (SD 5.2). Twenty women in the cohort had normal endometrial cavities, and 27 demonstrated intracavitary pathology, most often leiomyomas. For both groups, baseline and follow-up scores were similar. Satisfaction scores also were similar with 80.0% of the subjects with normal endometrial cavities and 72.7% of those with abnormal cavities satisfied or highly satisfied with the outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
Endometrial hydrothermablation seemed to be effective for AUB-affected women, both with and without pathologic lesions in the endometrial cavity.
Rosenbaum
Stacey P
SP
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Southern California Permanente Medical Group and the Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, Los Angeles Medical Center, Los Angeles, California 90027, USA.
Fried
Marc
M
Munro
Malcolm G
MG
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004564:Electrocoagulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004714:Endometrial Hyperplasia / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015907:Hysteroscopy / Q000379:methods; D007889:Leiomyoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012016:Reference Values; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014592:Uterine Hemorrhage / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D014594:Uterine Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*