Long term follow up of hysteroscopic myomectomy assessed by survival analysis

Objective To identify patient characteristics which affect outcome after hy steroscopic myomectomy for submucous fibroids. Design Prospective observational study. Setting A university teaching hospital. Sample One hundred and twenty-two consecutive patients treated by hysterosc opic myomectomy for submucous leiomyoma over a period of almost eight years . Methods Hysteroscopic electroresection of the leiomyoama using a continuous flow resectoscope. Main outcome measures The avoidance of further surgery and patient satisfac tion. Results The average age of the patients at the time of their surgery was 42 .8 years. A total of 194 fibroids were removed. The mean follow up period w as 2.3 years (range 1-7.6). Of those asked, 71.4% were satisfied with the r esults of surgery. Sixteen women required further surgery for fibroids, and six ultimately underwent hysterectomy. Survival analysis showed that the r isk of further surgery was 21% at four years after the myomectomy, and 0% t hereafter. Univariate regression analysis suggested that outcome was signif icantly better in older women, and in cases where the uterus was equivalent in size to less than or equal to 6 weeks of gestation, the fibroid was les s than or equal to 3 cm in diameter and mainly inh a-cavitary, and the proc edure time was less than or equal to 20 minutes. The influence of hormonal pre-treatment and the number of fibroids excised was not statistically sign ificant. After multivariate regression analysis, only overall uterine size and the position of the fibroid being removed were found to significantly i nfluence the success of surgery. Conclusions Hysteroscopic myomectomy is an effective way to manage patients with symptomatic submucous leiomyomata, particularly when the uterus is no t grossly enlarged and the fibroid(s) are mainly inside the uterine cavity.