International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics

Uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE) is more favourable to fertility than previously thought, scientists have concluded.

A study presented at a meeting of the Society of International Radiology compared the treatment to surgical myomectomy in terms of success rates for women who want to conceive.

The latter is the traditionally-preferred method of removing uterine fibroids - benign tumours in the uterus that can interfere with fertility and cause a range of other problems.

However, women who underwent the minimally-invasive UFE procedure were shown to have a slightly higher fertility rate.

Interventional radiologist Joao Martins Pisco of St Louis Hospital in Lisbon, Portugal commented: "Our study proves that UFE not only allows women who were unable to conceive to become pregnant, but also allows them to have normal pregnancies with similar complication rates as the general population."

Dr Stinne Bergholdt of Denmark recently conceived two children after having her fertility restored following chemotherapy - with frozen ovary tissue taken before she started treatment making this possible.

Posted by David Smith