Sinai Hospital Offers New Alternative to Hysterectomy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 1998

SINAI HOSPITAL OFFERS NEW ALTERNATIVE TO HYSTERECTOMY

Sinai Hospital of Baltimore is the first in Maryland to offer a new minimally invasive thermal treatment for women suffering from menorrhagia, excessive menstrual bleeding. In many cases, the treatment, which removes the endometrium, the tissue lining the uterus, can replace a hysterectomy, the most common form of therapy for this problem.

"We are pleased to be able to provide women in Maryland with a much simpler approach to treating what can be a very debilitating condition," says Wayne R. Cohen, M.D., Sinai's chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology. "The procedure does not require a hysterectomy, the removal of the uterus, which can have important emotional and physical advantages for women."

The procedure, known as Uterine Balloon Therapy, uses heat to remove the endometrial lining of the uterus, the primary source of menstrual bleeding. It reduces excessive bleeding to normal menstruation levels or less.

Under local anesthesia, a balloon catheter is inserted vaginally through the cervix and into the uterus. The balloon is inflated with sterile fluid, which is then heated to 188 deg F for eight minutes. Once the treatment is completed, the balloon is deflated and the balloon catheter is withdrawn and discarded. Patients go home the same day and most are able to resume normal activity in 24 hours.

"This procedure is much less invasive, and the recovery time is much faster than what is required for a hysterectomy," says Fouad M. Abbas, M.D., director of Sinai's Division of Gynecologic Oncology who performs the procedure. "Women get relief in a few hours as opposed to a few months with a hysterectomy."

Women who qualify for Uterine Balloon Therapy must be pre-menopausal, have completed childbearing, and their menstrual bleeding must be due to benign causes.

Menorrhagia affects approximately 22 percent of all menstruating women. It accounts for more than 30 percent of the 600,000 hysterectomies performed in the United States each year, and it is a common cause of iron deficiency anemia.

Hysterectomy, the second most frequently performed female surgical procedure in the United States, is the most common surgical treatment for menorrhagia. Hysterectomies performed to treat excessive menstrual bleeding cost the United States health care system an estimated $1.5 billion annually. "More than 10,000 women a year in the U.S. could potentially be spared a hysterectomy from this procedure," says Dr. Cohen.

# # #