Uterine-preserving treatments or hysterectomy reintervention after myomectomy or uterine artery embolisation: A retrospective cohort study of long-term outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To assess comparative rates of further uterine-preserving procedures (UPP) or hysterectomy reintervention, after myomectomy or uterine artery embolisation (UAE). DESIGN: Population-based, retrospective cohort study. SETTING: England. POPULATION: Women who underwent myomectomy or UAE between 2010 and 2015 under the NHS. METHODS: Data was abstracted from NHS Health Episode Statistics datasets. Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using Cox proportional-hazards regression. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: 30-day readmission, UPP and hysterectomy reintervention rates. RESULTS: 9443 and 6224 women underwent elective myomectomy or UAE, respectively. After 118 136 total person-years of follow-up, the rate of hysterectomy was 8.34 and 20.98 per 1000 patient years for myomectomy or UAE, respectively. There was a 2.4-fold increased risk of undergoing hysterectomy after UAE when compared with myomectomy in adjusted models (HR 2.38 [95% CI 2.10-2.66]) [adjusted for age, ethnicity, multiple deprivation index, geographical region and comorbidities]. The HR for undergoing a UPP reintervention was 1.44 (95% CI 1.29-1.60) in favour of myomectomy. The rate of hysterectomy was increased 22% following UAE compared with laparoscopic myomectomy (0.97-1.52). Age may influence reintervention rates, and there was variation in hysterectomy risk when stratified by geographical region. CONCLUSIONS: After a median of 7 years of follow-up, there is a 2.4-fold increased rate of hysterectomy and 44% increased risk of UPPs as reintervention after UAE, relative to myomectomy. These findings will aid pre-procedure counselling for women with fibroids. Future work should investigate the effect of other outcome modifiers, such as fertility intentions and fibroid anatomical characteristics.

Clinical, Imaging and Procedural Risk Factors for Intrauterine Infective Complications After Uterine Fibroid Embolisation: A Retrospective Case Control Study.

INTRODUCTION: This was a retrospective case-control study at a single tertiary centre investigating all UFE procedures between January 2013 and December 2018 for symptomatic fibroids. The aim was to determine the clinical, imaging and procedural risk factors which impact upon the risk of post-uterine fibroid embolisation (UFE) intrauterine infection. Cases were patients which developed intrauterine infection post-procedure, and controls were the background UFE population without infection. METHODS: Clinical demographics, presenting symptoms, uterine and fibroid characteristics on imaging and procedural variants were analysed. A p value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The main outcome measures were presence of infection and requirement of emergency hysterectomy. RESULTS: 333 technically successful UFE procedures were performed in 330 patients. Infection occurred after 25 procedures (7.5%). 3 of these patients progressed to overwhelming sepsis and required emergency hysterectomy. Clinical obesity (BMI > 30) (OR 1.53 [1.18-1.99]) and uterine volume > 1000cm3 (2.94 [1.15-7.54]) were found to increase the risk of infection CONCLUSIONS: UFE is generally safe in patients with symptomatic fibroids. Obese patients (BMI > 30) and those with large volume uteri (> 1000cm3) are at slight increased risk of developing infection and require appropriate pre-procedural counselling, as well as careful post-UFE follow-up. BMI and uterine volume may be useful to assess before the procedure to help to determine post-UFE infection risk.