Relationship Among Surgical Fibroid Removal, Blood Pressure, and Biomarkers of Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone System Activation.

ABSTRACT

Fibroids are common benign neoplasms in women and have recently been associated with cardiometabolic risk factors including hypertension. The objective of this study is to determine whether fibroid removal is associated with lower blood pressure (BP). We performed a single-center IRB-approved retrospective chart review of patients undergoing hysterectomy/myomectomy for fibroids and other benign gynecological surgical procedures from January 2016 to December 2019, and a prospective cohort study of patients undergoing hysterectomy/myomectomy for fibroids from August 2021 to April 2022. We measured demographic factors, preoperative/postoperative BP on day of surgery and at postoperative visit. In our prospective cohort, to evaluate for alterations in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) induced by fibroid removal, we measured serum angiotensin-II (Ang-II) and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) levels pre- and post-operatively. In our retrospective study (n = 294; mean age 41.9 ± 10.6, 43.5% Black, 50% with fibroids), we found that compared to patients without fibroids, patients with fibroids had significantly elevated systolic BP (SBP) (pre-op p = 0.0005; post-op p = 0.02), although this did not hold after adjusting for covariates. Fibroid removal was associated with a marginally albeit not statistically significant decrease in SBP (p = 0.062). In our prospective study (n = 11), there was a significant decrease in SBP following fibroid removal, but no change in diastolic BP (p = 0.019, p = 0.18, respectively). Serum levels of Ang-II and ACE were not significantly altered following surgical fibroid removal (p = 0.72, p = 0.81, respectively). Altogether, these findings suggest that fibroids are not independently associated with BP or RAAS activation, but do suggest that fibroid removal may be associated with a small drop in SBP.