Study objective: To evaluate preprocedure and postprocedure health related quality of life scores and patient satisfaction of women treated with hydrothermablation for abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) with and without endometrial intracavitary pathology.
Design: Cohort study (Canadian Task Force classification II-2).
Setting: Two institutions from a large managed care organization.
Patients: Forty-seven English-speaking premenopausal women with AUB, both with and without leiomyomas or polyps in the endometrial cavity treated from January 2001 through March 2003.
Intervention: Patients had been treated with endometrial hydrothermablation.
Measurements and main results: A standardized system, validated in English (the Ruta score), was used for evaluating health-related quality-of-life impact of uterine bleeding. Following the index procedure, patients were asked to assess both baseline and current status. A simple five-point satisfaction scale also was administered. Outcomes from subjects with and without documented endometrial structural pathology were compared. Follow-up ranged from 5 to 25 months with a mean of 12.7 (SD 5.2). Twenty women in the cohort had normal endometrial cavities, and 27 demonstrated intracavitary pathology, most often leiomyomas. For both groups, baseline and follow-up scores were similar. Satisfaction scores also were similar with 80.0% of the subjects with normal endometrial cavities and 72.7% of those with abnormal cavities satisfied or highly satisfied with the outcome.
Conclusion: Endometrial hydrothermablation seemed to be effective for AUB-affected women, both with and without pathologic lesions in the endometrial cavity.