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Background The efficacy and safety of uterine-artery embolization, as compared with standard surgical methods, for the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids remain uncertain.
Methods We conducted a randomized trial comparing uterine-artery embolization and surgery in women with symptomatic uterine fibroids. The primary outcome was quality of life at 1 year of follow-up, as measured by the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form General Health Survey (SF-36).
Results Patients were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to undergo either uterine-artery embolization or surgery, with 106 patients undergoing embolization and 51 undergoing surgery (43 hysterectomies and 8 myomectomies). There were no significant differences between groups in any of the eight components of the SF-36 scores at 1 year. The embolization group had a shorter median duration of hospitalization than the surgical group (1 day vs. 5 days, P<0.001) and a shorter time before returning to work (P<0.001). At 1 year, symptom scores were better in the surgical group (P=0.03). During the first year of follow-up, there were 13 major adverse events in the embolization group (12%) and 10 in the surgical group (20%) (P=0.22), mostly related to the intervention. Ten patients in the embolization group (9%) required repeated embolization or hysterectomy for inadequate symptom control. After the first year of follow-up, 14 women in the embolization group (13%) required hospitalization, 3 of them for major adverse events and 11 for reintervention for treatment failure.
Conclusions In women with symptomatic fibroids, the faster recovery after embolization must be weighed against the need for further treatment in a minority of patients. (ISRCTN.org number, ISRCTN23023665
[controlled-trials.com]
.)
Source Information
The Writing Committee of the Randomized Trial of Embolization versus Surgical Treatment for Fibroids consisted of Richard D. Edwards, M.B., Ch.B., and Jonathan G. Moss, M.B., Ch.B., Gartnavel Hospital; Mary Ann Lumsden, M.D., Olivia Wu, Ph.D., and Lilian S. Murray, Ph.D., University of Glasgow — all in Glasgow, Scotland; and Sara Twaddle, Ph.D., Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, and Gordon D. Murray, Ph.D., University of Edinburgh Medical School — both in Edinburgh.
Address reprint requests to Dr. Moss at the Department of Radiology, North Glasgow Hospitals, Gartnavel Hospital, 1053 Great Western Rd., Glasgow G12 OYN, United Kingdom, or at jon.moss{at}northglasgow.scot.nhs.uk.
Related Letters:
Treatment of Symptomatic Uterine Fibroids
Parashar A., Varma A., Bedi S., Borghese B., Chapron C., Moss J., Lumsden M. A., Cooper K.
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N Engl J Med 2007;
356:2218-2219, May 24, 2007.
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