New Way for Hysterectomy
Go-ahead on way for "3-minute hysterectomy"
By Celia Hall, Medical Editor
(Filed: 28/08/2003)
Two surgical techniques which could save thousands of women from having a hysterectomy have been deemed safe by national treatment and drugs advisers.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) says there is enough evidence to support the use in the health service of a microwave treatment, known as the three-minute "hysterectomy", and another that uses a heated balloon to destroy the lining of the womb. Nice is conducting a full appraisal of both methods.
Prof Bill Dunlop, the president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: "The use of these techniques may, in some cases, provide an alternative to more drastic surgery in the treatment of women suffering menorrhagia [heavy menstrual periods] and avoid the need for a hysterectomy."
Both methods destroy only the endometrium, the lining of the womb. They can be carried out at day surgery with local anaesthetic and have a short recovery time.
For a full surgical hysterectomy, a woman is in hospital for four to six days with up to six weeks" recovery.
Microwave endometrial ablation (MEA) involves a wand or microwave probe being put into the womb. With balloon thermal ablation, a balloon filled with a fluid is heated to destroy the endometrium.
About 60,000 hysterectomies are carried out each year, half of which are caused by menorrhagia. MEA could save the health service ฃ300 million a year.
Excerpt from Daily Telegraph UK, 28 August 2003
Posted by : Phoenix , Date : 2003-08-28 , Time : 20:05:02 , From IP : 172.29.3.247
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