Hysteroscopic treatment of intrauterine lesions in premenopausal and postmenopausal women

Reducing Fluid-Related Complications During Operative Hysteroscopy: Use of a New Mandatory Fluid-Balance Form

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To examine whether our new reporting system and mandatory fluid-balance form could improve the communication and awareness within the surgical team and therefore the safety of hysteroscopic operations.

DESIGN

A case-control study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).

SETTING

An endoscopic gynecology unit at a tertiary-care university hospital.

PATIENTS

Women aged 17 to 88 years (median, 43.9) who underwent operative hysteroscopy to treat uterine pathology.

INTERVENTIONS

Operative hysteroscopy was performed using bipolar technology and normal saline as an irrigation media with the new fluid-balance form and a mandatory reporting system. The control group was composed of women who underwent the procedure using the same technology, with a previous protocol.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Data regarding intraoperative and postoperative short-term complications were prospectively collected during surgery and at the 2-week follow-up visit. About 2000 procedures were investigated (601 in the study group and 1396 in the control group). In the control group there were 20 incidents of fluid deficit over 2 L. In 4 of these cases the procedure was terminated, but in the other 16 cases the procedure was continued, with or without awareness of the surgeons to the deficit. Of these cases, 2 suffered from media-related complications, and in 3 others complications were avoided by diuretics. In contrast, in the study group there were 10 incidents of fluid deficit over 2 L, of which 5 cases were terminated on time and the other 5 continued under the informed decision of the surgeon. In this group, none of the women experienced a media-related complication. The difference between the number of procedures that were terminated on time between the control and study groups was not statistically significant (p = .115). There was a statistically significant reduction in the total complication rate between the study group (1.8%) and the control group (3.9%; p = .019).

CONCLUSIONS

The fluid-balance form and mandatory reporting system have been shown to reduce the rate of total complications in hysteroscopic surgeries, in particular media-related complications. This result is achieved by an improvement of the awareness and communication among the operating team, leading to an improvement in procedure safety.

Complications of hysteroscopic surgery: “Beyond the learning curve”

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To investigate the actual complication rate of hysteroscopic surgery performed by experienced endoscopic surgeons in a single medical center.

DESIGN

A prospective descriptive study (Canadian Task Force classification III).

SETTING

An endoscopic gynecology unit at a tertiary care university hospital.

PATIENTS

Women from 21 to 82 (median 45.0) years, undergoing operative hysteroscopy for uterine disease.

INTERVENTION

Operative hysteroscopy with glycine or saline solution used as an irrigation medium.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Data of short-term complications were prospectively collected during surgery and at the 2-week follow-up visit. Six hundred procedures were investigated. The total complication rate was 3%, with 1% of uterine perforations. Two-thirds of the complications were related to cervical dilation or uterine entry, and infertility was found to be a risk factor.

CONCLUSIONS

Hysteroscopic surgery, performed by a well-trained hysteroscopic surgeon, is a safe procedure with an overall complication rate of 3%. Most complications are related to cervical dilation or uterine entry techniques. Efforts therefore should be focused on identifying the patients at risk and finding novel techniques for cervical priming.

Polypectomy in premenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding: effectiveness of hysteroscopic removal

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To estimate the effectiveness of hysteroscopic polypectomy in premenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding and to identify prognostic factors for persistence or recurrence of symptoms after polypectomy.

DESIGN

Retrospective study (Canadian Task Force classification II-3).

SETTING

University teaching hospital.

PATIENTS

Premenopausal women with abnormal uterine bleeding.

INTERVENTION

Hysteroscopic polypectomy, regardless of whether combined with endometrial ablation or insertion of a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Seventy-eight consecutive patients met the inclusion criteria and were followed over time. Data were retrieved from medical records or from additional questionnaires sent to the patients. Failure of treatment was defined as persistence or recurrence of abnormal uterine bleeding after polypectomy, requiring further treatment. The mean age was 44.2 years (SD 5.2, 95% CI 33.9-54.4 years). Intervention-free survival after polypectomy, as calculated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, was 41.1% (SE 8.3%, 95% CI 24.8%-57.4%) after 4 years for patients who underwent only hysteroscopic polypectomy and 54.7% (SE 13.6%, 95% CI 28.0%-81.4%) for patients who underwent a polypectomy combined with endometrial ablation or insertion of a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device (p = .08). Cox regression analyses revealed no statistically significant predictors for persistence or recurrence of symptoms after polypectomy.

CONCLUSION

Nearly 60% of patients required further treatment for persistence or recurrence of abnormal uterine bleeding 4 years after hysteroscopic polypectomy. Although not significant, outcome of treatment tended to improve by combining polypectomy with either an endometrial ablation or insertion of a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device.

Uterine polypectomy in the management of abnormal uterine bleeding: A systematic review

In order to assess the efficacy of uterine polypectomy in the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB), we conducted a systematic review of the published literature. Relevant papers were identified through electronic scanning of MEDLINE (1966-2004), EMBASE (1980-2004), and the Cochrane Library, and manual searching of bibliographies of known primary and review articles. Studies were selected if the efficacy of uterine polypectomy in treating women with AUB (menstrual dysfunction, postmenopausal bleeding with or without hormone replacement/tamoxifen therapy) was estimated. Study selection, quality assessment, and data abstraction were performed independently and in duplicate. The main outcomes measured were relief of AUB symptoms measured in general terms (improvement from baseline, normalization of bleeding patterns) and patient satisfaction. Secondary outcomes included technical feasibility and complications. Ten uncontrolled observational studies with 617 women were identified. No randomized trials were found. The methodologic quality of included studies was poor. Hysteroscopic resection under general anesthesia was used to remove intrauterine polyps in all studies, although outpatient approaches with local anesthetic also were employed in three of these case series. No technical failures were reported, but three complications including one uterine perforation were described. All studies reported an improvement in symptoms of AUB after polypectomy (range 75%-100%) at follow-up intervals of between 2 and 52 months. A single study compared outpatient polyp removal under local anesthesia with inpatient, general anesthetic treatment and detected no significant difference in treatment outcomes (p = 0.7). It was only possible to stratify treatment outcome according to type of AUB in one small study, which detected no significant difference between polypectomy for menstrual dysfunction or postmenopausal bleeding (p = 0.2). In conclusion, there is a lack of high-quality evidence to reliably inform clinical practice regarding the efficacy of intrauterine polypectomy in women with AUB. The limited available evidence suggests that hysteroscopic polypectomy is a technically successful procedure that improves AUB symptoms. Further research in the form of a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial, stratified by technique, setting, and pattern of AUB, is required to assess the short- and long-term effects of this commonly practiced intervention.

Diagnosis of malignant mesenchymal uterine tumors by hysteroscopic excisional biopsy

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To emphasize the need for histologic evaluation of intrauterine lesions. Six cases of unexpected mesenchymal uterine tumors were diagnosed following pathologic review of specimens obtained during hysteroscopy to evaluate intrauterine lesions.

DESIGN

Retrospective chart review (Canadian Task Force classification II-3).

SETTING

Large tertiary care medical center.

PATIENTS

Four postmenopausal and two perimenopausal women with uterine mesenchymal tumors.

INTERVENTION

Hysteroscopy and staging laparotomy.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

Mean age of the patients was 57.5 +/- 19.5 years (mean +/- 2SD). Four women (67%) were postmenopausal. Three patients had abnormal uterine bleeding, one had a cervical mass, and the other two were asymptomatic and referred for evaluation of thick endometrium detected by routine ultrasound, which had been preformed as part of their annual check-up. In all cases, the initial hysteroscopic diagnosis was endometrial polyp or submucous myoma. Following the pathologic review, all six women underwent complete staging laparotomy. In two women, there was no residual disease in the surgical specimen. None of the patients had extrauterine spread of the disease. At mean follow-up of 21.5 +/- 9.7 months (mean +/- 2SD), all women were asymptomatic.

CONCLUSIONS

Intrauterine lesions erroneously considered to be benign endometrial polyps or myomas can turn out to be malignant mesenchymal uterine tumors. Hysteroscopic evaluation and biopsy might offer early diagnosis and treatment to these patients.

How often are endometrial polyps malignant?

OBJECTIVE

Endometrial polyps are a frequent pathology encountered during pelvic sonography and diagnostic hysteroscopies. The true incidence of malignant endometrial polyps is unknown. The estimations range from 0.5 to 4.8%. The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency of malignant endometrial polyps, and to characterize the hysteroscopic image of these polyps.

METHODS

The study included 300 consecutive women with endometrial polyps who underwent hysteroscopic polypectomy. Patients' characteristics, operative findings, and pathology reports were analyzed.

RESULTS

Four of the 300 endometrial polyps removed by operative hysteroscopy were malignant (1.3%). Patients with malignant polyps were symptomatic peri- or postmenopausal women. All asymptomatic polyps in this series were found to be benign. We could not identify any distinct hysteroscopic feature of malignancy.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study shows that about 1.5% of endometrial polyps may be malignant. This finding reinforces the indication for removal of symptomatic endometrial polyps, preferably by a hysteroscopic procedure. The significance of asymptomatic uterine polyps has still to be determined.

The HydroThermAblator System for Management of Menorrhagia in Women with Submucous Myomas: 12- to 20-Month Follow-up

STUDY OBJECTIVE

To assess the safety and efficacy of the HydroThermAblator (HTA) system to treat patients with menorrhagia and submucous myomas up to 4 cm in diameter.

DESIGN

Retrospective, multicenter, cohort study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).

SETTING

Two medical centers from a large, prepaid, multispecialty health maintenance organization.

PATIENTS

Twenty-two women.

INTERVENTION

HTA endometrial ablation.

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The HTA circulates free-flowing, heated (90 degrees C) saline in the uterine cavity for 10 minutes under direct hysteroscopic control. All procedures were performed in the office under local anesthesia after premedication with oral anxiolytic and analgesic agents. At least 1 year after treatment (average follow-up 15.4 mo, range 12-20 mo), women were contacted regarding their menstrual history. Success was defined as no additional medical or surgical intervention. Amenorrhea was defined as no bleeding, eumenorrhea as normal periods, and oligomenorrhea as less than a normal period. Twelve patients (54%) reported complete amenorrhea; 7 were premenopausal (41% amenorrhea rate) and 5 were postmenopausal (100% amenorrhea rate). Five (23%) reported oligomenorrhea and three (14%) eumenorrhea, and were very satisfied with the result. The overall success rate was 91%. Of two failures (9%), one woman had a repeat HTA 13 months later for menorrhagia. The other had a repeat HTA for persistent spotting and sustained a false passage and small perforation before the procedure began. She elected to have a vaginal hysterectomy 1 month later. Although the results are not statistically significant, patients were extremely satisfied with the outcomes, and no serious complications were related to the device or its use for this indication.

CONCLUSION

HTA is probably safe and effective in treating women with menorrhagia and submucous myomas up to 4 cm in diameter. It offers advantages over hysterectomy and electrosurgical resection since it is an office-based procedure, and significant advantages over other global ablation technologies that, by their design, are unable to treat significantly distorted uterine cavities.