As a UK gynaecologist and obstetrician I say to my patients who have fibroids, that the majority of women who have fibroids will get pregnant with no problem, and the majority of women who have fibroids will see the pregnancy through with no problems.
However the diagnosis of fibroids may in itself be a “wake up” call as apart from causing symptoms of heavy periods and symptoms relating to pressure on the bladder and bowel they can in some women be responsible for difficulty in getting pregnant and problems during pregnancy. So if women are diagnosed with fibroids they would want to consider their fertility options sooner rather than later. The “magic” age after which fertility declines even in the absence of fibroids is 35 years.
Because of the difficulty in conducting fibroid research and the paucity of comparable papers in medical literature, sometimes quantification of the risk for the individual patient is difficult as is the ability of women to search literature for information and to match their individual circumstance.
As a general rule the problems fibroids cause depends on their location and their relationship to the uterine cavity. The fibroids that have been implicated in the reduction of fertility are those that occupy or distort the cavity of the uterus (submucous fibroids). Those that are in the muscle or on the outside of the uterus can impair fertility but have a less direct effect. They may have a mechanical effect when they obstruct the fallopian tubes (where the fertilized egg needs to pass through to reach the uterine cavity).
What the literature does say is that when we compare women with submucous fibroids with women with infertility without fibroids those with fibroids have a significantly lower clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate, ongoing pregnancy rate and live birth rate.
High quality medical studies also demonstrate that when these fibroids are removed pregnancy rates increase. In an Italian study of 108 women over a mean period of 41 months pregnancy rates were improved by 49% for type-0 fibroids, 36% for type-I, and 33% for type-II submucous fibroids. In another study where some women were treated for their submucous fibroids and some were left alone. In those left alone the pregnancy rate was only 28% compared with 63% in those that had their fibroids removed.
Women with these submucous fibroids also have a higher spontaneous miscarriage rate and this miscarriage risk disappears when these fibroids are resected.
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However the diagnosis of fibroids may in itself be a “wake up” call as apart from causing symptoms of heavy periods and symptoms relating to pressure on the bladder and bowel they can in some women be responsible for difficulty in getting pregnant and problems during pregnancy. So if women are diagnosed with fibroids they would want to consider their fertility options sooner rather than later. The “magic” age after which fertility declines even in the absence of fibroids is 35 years.
Because of the difficulty in conducting fibroid research and the paucity of comparable papers in medical literature, sometimes quantification of the risk for the individual patient is difficult as is the ability of women to search literature for information and to match their individual circumstance.
As a general rule the problems fibroids cause depends on their location and their relationship to the uterine cavity. The fibroids that have been implicated in the reduction of fertility are those that occupy or distort the cavity of the uterus (submucous fibroids). Those that are in the muscle or on the outside of the uterus can impair fertility but have a less direct effect. They may have a mechanical effect when they obstruct the fallopian tubes (where the fertilized egg needs to pass through to reach the uterine cavity).
What the literature does say is that when we compare women with submucous fibroids with women with infertility without fibroids those with fibroids have a significantly lower clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate, ongoing pregnancy rate and live birth rate.
High quality medical studies also demonstrate that when these fibroids are removed pregnancy rates increase. In an Italian study of 108 women over a mean period of 41 months pregnancy rates were improved by 49% for type-0 fibroids, 36% for type-I, and 33% for type-II submucous fibroids. In another study where some women were treated for their submucous fibroids and some were left alone. In those left alone the pregnancy rate was only 28% compared with 63% in those that had their fibroids removed.
Women with these submucous fibroids also have a higher spontaneous miscarriage rate and this miscarriage risk disappears when these fibroids are resected.
P.S: If you have a question about this post, please leave a comment or share with your friends!
You can read the second part of this post here: CLICK
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