Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 November 2010
The introduction of the laparoscopic approach for the management of intramural and subserosal uterine myomas has to a great extent revolutionized the modern management of myomas. Previously the only way to remove intramural and subserous myomas was by laparotomy, a procedure associated with significant postoperative morbidity. Therefore, physicians traditionally reserved abdominal myomectomy for a selected group of women where the risks and discomfort involved with laparotomy were judged worthy of the potential to preserve and enhance their fertility. Studies published in 1999 confirmed the advantages of laparoscopic myomectomy, such as the low morbidity and rapid recovery, which has led to the growing application of the technique towards women with symptomatic uterine myoma. However, laparoscopic operation is also associated with potential disadvantages including prolonged anesthesia, increased blood loss and possibly postoperative adhesion formation. This has led to a renewed interest in regard to the precise indications for performing laparoscopic myomectomy.
Indications
The primary reason for performing myomectomy in women of reproductive age is the preservation of the uterus for the purpose of childbearing. However, an increasing number of women currently elect to undergo laparoscopic removal of myomas, due to various symptoms associated with a rapidly growing or bulky uterus. In addition, some women resort to laparoscopic myomectomy when fibroids that are associated with heavy menstrual bleeding cannot be removed hysteroscopically.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.