The National Center for Advanced Pelvic Surgery at MedStar Health offers diagnosis and treatment of uterine fibroids. Fibroids, which are non-cancerous growths in the uterus, are made of muscle and can develop within the uterine wall or attach to it. Fibroids usually start out about the size of a pea and often grow when women are in their 30s and 40s.
The different types of fibroids are:
- Pedunculated fibroids are connected to the outside of the uterus by a stalk. A woman may feel the fibroid moving around, or may have pain if the stalk becomes twisted and blood supply to the fibroid is decreased
- Sub-serosal fibroids lie on the outside of the uterus and usually cause few symptoms unless they become very large
- Intramural fibroids are buried in the muscular wall of the uterus. They can cause pain and abnormal bleeding
- Submucosal fibroids project into the uterine cavity and often cause heavy menstrual bleeding and bleeding between periods
Treatments
For many years, the most common form of treatment for fibroids was a hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus); however, recent advances in medical technology and surgical techniques have led to the development of less invasive treatments that allow a woman to keep her uterus.
Treatment options for uterine fibroids include:
- Myomectomy: the surgical removal of fibroids from uterus
- Endometrial ablation: the laser removal of fibroids
- Hysterectomy: the removal of the uterus
- Uterine fibroid embolization (UFE): a minimally invasive treatment involving the injection of microscopic particles into particular targeted arteries to selectively block blood flow to the fibroids, causing the fibroids themselves to gradually and consistently shrink over time
Other options include:
- Observation
- Pain relievers
- Hormones
- Change in diet and exercise
- Complementary and alternative medicine
Our providers
Expert urogynecology care
Getting the care you need starts with seeing one of our urogynecologists.
Additional information
Office Hours
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday: 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Friday: 8 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
In addition, our physicians see patients in Bel Air and Federal Hill at the following locations:
Peter O’Hare III, MD
MedStar Health Bel Air Medical Campus
12 MedStar Blvd.
Suite 235
Bel Air, MD 21015
410-569-7789
Fax: 410-569-7609
Our Center is part of the National Center for Advanced Pelvic Surgery (NCAPS) at MedStar Washington Hospital Center