A recent study has found that 29% of people in Ontario who undergo endometrial ablation will have a subsequent hysterectomy to remove the entire uterus within 15 years. Researchers from ICES, the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University, 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). EA is a minimally invasive surgery that treats abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) 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 and 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," says lead author Dr.
Jacob McGee, an adjunct scientist at ICES Western, assistant professor in the department of obstetrics & gynecology at Schulich Medicine & Dentistry, and associate scientist at Lawson. Risk of hysterectomy shows no signs of plateauing The study found 22% of patients received a subsequent surgical intervention after their primary EA. Within one year of EA, 5% of .
