A new study has found that 29 per cent of people in Ontario who undergo a surgical procedure called endometrial ablation will have a subsequent hysterectomy to remove the entire uterus within 15 years.
Researchers from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, known as ICES, Western's Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry and Lawson Health Research Institute examined 76,446 patients who were followed for 15 years, addressing the question of surgical interventions after a first endometrial ablation (EA).
A minimally invasive surgery that treats abnormal uterine bleeding and is often offered as an alternative to hysterectomy, EA has been established as a safe procedure with low complication rates. But less is known about whether people undergoing EA will need further surgical intervention down the road.
Published in the journal Facts, Views & Vision in ObGyn, the study included patients who had undergone their first EA in Ontario between 2002 and 2017.
"These results provide valuable information to care providers, who can counsel their patients about more realistic outcomes of endometrial ablation, and the potential need for a future hysterectomy," said lead author Dr. Jacob McGee, a professor in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Schulich Medicine, an adjunct scientist at ICES Western and associate scientist at Lawson.
Risk of hysterectomy shows no signs of plateauing
The study found 22 per cent of patients received a subsequent surgical intervention after their primary EA.
Within one year of the procedure, five per cent of women went on to have a hysterectomy. This increased to 17 per cent at five years, 23 per cent at 10 years and 29 per cent at 15 years. This increase showed no evidence of plateauing by the 15-year follow-up.
People who were younger, had a complex diagnosis or previous abdominal surgery (such as tubal ligation) were more likely to have a subsequent hysterectomy.
"The large number of women progressing to hysterectomy following a primary EA is concerning and suggests that EA is best considered as an intervention that will improve symptoms in the short-term and will ultimately delay the need for a hysterectomy, rather than prevent it," McGee said.
Another finding showed a link between surgeon experience and future surgical risk following EA. As the experience of the surgeon increased (using their age as a surrogate measure), the likelihood of a person requiring a hysterectomy decreased by three per cent for each increase in year of experience.
"We suggest that if endometrial ablation is to be performed that clinicians consider how they communicate longer-term outcomes to patients," said Dr. George Vilos, professor in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Schulich Medicine.
The researchers called attention to the potential use of combination treatments, including IUDs or hormone replacement therapies, which may extend the effectiveness of EA, and could eliminate the need for additional surgeries if patients were to enter menopause. They noted that further research is needed to explore these options.
