In our rapidly racing time, many diseases are getting younger. Increasingly, women of reproductive age are diagnosed with dangerous sizes of uterine fibroids. Very patients experience shock when the gynecologist informs them of the diagnosis. In this article, we will look at the dangers of nodular fibroids. Are there ways to quickly cure the disease. Is it possible to avoid this disease and what is its treatment in case the inevitable happened.
From the article you will also learn how dangerous fibroids are during pregnancy and whether conception itself is possible in this case. Fibroids are compared to the size of the fetus during pregnancy to determine the size of the tumor. A knot is considered small up to 5-7 weeks, medium - up to 7-11, large - more than 12.
Is fibroids dangerous?
Is uterine fibroids life-threatening. This disease occurs in 40% of young women. According to the modern concept, uterine fibroids are a genetically determined benign tumor that develops from the smooth muscle cells of the uterus innode form. The neoplasm is a tangle of randomly intertwining smooth muscle fibers, which is visible to the doctor in the form of a rounded formation and is called the "myoma knot" (myomatous knot).
Main causes of disease:
- bad habits;
- uterine injury;
- hormonal disorders.
What is the danger of nodular uterine fibroids? Diagnostics is required, during which it will be revealed whether the fibroid is a benign or malignant neoplasm. If the tumor is the last, then uterine fibroids are life-threatening for the patient. Surgery is required, and in some cases as soon as possible. Further therapy and prevention of relapse is carried out as prescribed by the attending physician.
Good education
The nature of the neoplasm depends on the hormonal background and is often benign. This does not alleviate the patient's condition, as in some cases it threatens with serious complications. Uterine fibroids are life-threatening. According to statistics, myomatous nodes are found in 30% of women aged 25-45 years. They differ in shape, quantity, location. Some fibroids grow quickly, others slowly, but all reach gigantic proportions if you do not contact a specialist in time!
The development of fibroids begins at the embryonic stage, when cells with altered genes are laid. Subsequently, the growth of undifferentiated muscle cells, damaged and containing tumors in their structure, begins. ATfurther development of fibroids can occur due to various factors.
Reasons for the development of neoplasms
Formation of the fibroid germ may occur at a later age as a result of the accumulation of gene mutations and the emergence of cells that give rise to tumor growth. Approximately 10 years pass from the moment the changes begin to the development of a tumor.
The causes of the disease in 80% of patients are hereditary. Women whose first-line relatives (mother, grandmothers, sisters) had uterine fibroids are at risk of developing this tumor 4 times more often than other female representatives.
Uterine fibroids are the most common benign tumor of the female reproductive system. To date, no remedy has been invented that would prevent the development of a neoplasm.
Who is more likely to get sick
Risk factors for developing this disease or progression of existing uterine fibroids:
- Hormonal changes.
- Irregular or no sex life.
- Early start of period.
- No pregnancy and childbirth.
- Rejection (or impossibility) of breastfeeding.
- Impaired fat metabolism.
An alarming symptom that a woman should immediately pay attention to is more abundant menstrual flow, their duration. In the end, bleeding can be incessant for a month, continue outside the cycle (metrorrhagia), becoming more or lessplentiful.
Many women in such a situation endure and hope that everything, as it started by itself, will end, and do not seek help. In fact, you need to see a female doctor as soon as possible! Over time, if the patient does not seek help, this will lead to the development of anemia.
Women who are on the verge of menopause should be most attentive to their female he alth during this period, because at this age hormonal changes in the body occur and various diseases appear. This can be an impetus for the rapid growth of already existing undiagnosed uterine fibroids or their transition to the malignant stage.
Consequences of fibroids for women's he alth
What is the danger of uterine fibroids? Myoma nodes grow very slowly, at first they are benign, do not cause any pain and inconvenience, developing and taking up more and more space. If you do not start treating fibroids at the beginning of the disease, it becomes very large with heavy bleeding and this can end in infertility or cell degeneration into a malignant tumor. Only 30% of patients over 30 years of age will experience unpleasant symptoms. Thus, at some point, fibroids begin to really threaten the life of a woman.
Uterine fibroids are very dangerous because at the very beginning the disease is asymptomatic. The node is discovered by chance during medical examination, on ultrasound. It also happens that the disease has acquired a malignant form and nothing can be done, that's what is dangerousfibroids.
Malignant neoplasm
Degeneration into a malignant form is affected by:
- Smoking and alcohol abuse.
- Frequent tan.
- Chronic diseases of the abdominal organs.
- Pelvic Warming.
What is dangerous nodular fibroids? If it is not detected in time, it grows, increases and takes up more and more space. Having such a dangerous size, fibroids cause concomitant diseases.
She begins to compress the abdominal organs that are located next to her (bladder, rectum, veins, etc.). This, in turn, leads to big problems with the organs of the urinary system. A woman has problems with urination, she has to go to the toilet more often, urinary incontinence is possible and cramping abdominal pains of a pressing nature appear. And pressure on the rectum causes chronic constipation.
It is necessary as soon as the doctor has diagnosed this disease, follow his recommendations. In this way, many problems can be avoided. Once a year, every woman needs to visit a gynecologist, do an ultrasound scan and identify serious diseases at the initial stage of development or make sure that they are absent. Any fibroid is an unacceptable process that occurs in the uterus and requires immediate treatment, and if necessary, surgical intervention.
Uterine fibroids and pregnancy
All these changes occur in the female body during the reproductive period. dangerouswhether fibroids during pregnancy. A woman with a myomatous node may well become pregnant. This is a difficult problem, since at the initial stage the disease is asymptomatic, and the woman does not feel anything and is not aware of it.
Complication of pregnancy can occur at different stages of pregnancy. During this period, most often there is an active growth of myomatous nodes, which is associated with hormonal changes in the woman's body. They increase, soften, become more mobile.
Danger of development during pregnancy
What is the danger of fibroids? Large nodules deform the uterine cavity, creating a danger to the child, which leads to fetal hypoxia, the threat of miscarriage.
Serious complications include:
- necrosis of the uterine myoma node:
- placental insufficiency, when the placenta coincides with the location of the myoma node;
- varicose veins as a result of large uterine fibroids compressing the veins;
- preterm birth.
In the first trimester, the risk of miscarriage in women with uterine fibroids is 47 - 50%.
Preservation of pregnancy with uterine myoma
In this case, it depends on the size of the node, on its location, and the age and individual characteristics of the woman's body are also of great importance. It is impossible to identify a general trend in delivery in the presence of fibroids, in each individual case everything happens differently.
If the pregnancy persists, the expectant mother should regularly visit the gynecologist andall prescribed therapy. Usually, after childbirth, there is no question of maintaining breastfeeding, the child has to be transferred to artificial formula feeding.
If complications occur, the doctor immediately hospitalizes the patient to a hospital where treatment will be continued. Violation of contractions during childbirth carries the risk of anomalies in labor activity. Contractions become not systematic, and attempts are weak and ineffective. This condition becomes life-threatening for the patient and the baby, leading to a surgical delivery.
Modern diagnostic methods
Currently, the two main methods for early diagnosis of fibroids are:
- Ultrasound.
- Radial research methods.
For many years, the most accurate method of diagnosing uterine disease and follow-up has been ultrasound. It allows you to identify the danger of fibroids. On ultrasound, you can see small myamotous nodes (up to 1 cm in size), which cannot be detected by other methods during a gynecological examination. The most optimal use is 3D-4D ultrasound, preferably color Doppler mapping. This will accurately determine the most dangerous size of uterine fibroids, its localization and interaction with surrounding tissues, as well as the blood flow near.
It is also possible to combine ultrasound with echohysterography. During the last procedure, a contrast fluid is injected, which will make it possible to differentiate fibroids from the body of the uterus, frompolyps and endometrium, as well as determine the localization of the node, size and what danger it poses.
Radiation diagnostic methods include the use of computed or magnetic resonance imaging, multislice computed tomography. These methods are not widely used because they have a large radiation load on the body as a whole.
But they justified themselves in the diagnosis of large nodes, when fibroids are life-threatening for the patient, to clarify the nature of the location of the nodes, if it is not clearly visible on ultrasound, what is dangerous for this pathology. They help to determine the ratio of the tumor with related organs and systems, clearly define the boundaries of the formation, and also to find the vessels that feed this node, which can be used during embolization.
Classification of neoplasm by size
Which fibroid is dangerous? Fibroids can be classified by size:
- small fibroids less than 2 cm;
- medium fibroids from 2.1 cm to 6.9 cm;
- large fibroids from 6.9 cm to 10 cm;
- giant fibroids, when the node reaches a size of more than 10 cm.
The size of uterine fibroids becomes dangerous when the nodes reach average values.
Basic treatments
Identification of the disease in the early stages of development in the form of small nodes requires only observation. But what if the node starts to grow? The choice of method depends on the size of the body of the fibroid, the reproductive plans of the patient, concomitant diseases.
There are three treatments:
- Pharmacological.
- Surgical.
- Ray.
Most often, a patient with a medium-sized nodule, she does not plan to give birth and nothing bothers her, is left under dynamic observation. This means that a woman should visit a gynecologist every 3-6 months for a check-up or an ultrasound.
There is also a pharmacological method for the treatment of nodular uterine fibroids. It is aimed at reducing the manifestations of the risks of bleeding and the volume of blood loss. The drug method can be a preoperative preparation in order to stabilize the growth of the node. Recently, more often you can meet the opinion that the treatment of uterine fibroids is possible with the use of hormone therapy. This method for some time allows you to either delay or completely move away from surgical treatment.
There are 3 methods of surgical treatment:
- removal of the uterus (hysterectomy);
- conservative myomectomy (allows you to remove the node, but at the same time save the uterus);
- hysteroresectoscopy (carried out using high-tech equipment that allows you to control all manipulations inside the uterine cavity, which eliminates complications after surgery).
The choice of surgical treatment depends on the size of the node and its location, as well as the skill of the surgeon. It is performed only in specialized medical institutions equipped with appropriate equipment.
Radiation treatments include uterine embolization and magnetic resonance FUS ablation. These methods are limited in their use.as they cannot be recommended to women planning a pregnancy due to the high risk of complications. The treatment method is selected only individually.
