Resectoscopic removal of symptomatic intrauterine lesions.

In order to avoid major surgical intervention in women who refused or were poor risks for hysterectomy or myomectomy, a hysteroscopic resectoscope was used for 90 women with uncontrollable uterine bleeding due to submucous fibroids or large polyps or with menorrhagia with normal endometria. Of those patients followed for more than three months, 90% of endometrial ablation patients had an improvement in menstrual flow, with 79% having scant or no periods. For patients with submucous fibroids or polyps, 91% had resumption of normal menses. For the 15 patients who were infertile and underwent submucous fibroid or polyp resection the term pregnancy rate is 33% to date. With only two complications in the series (perforation and endometritis), the conclusion is that resection of submucous lesions and endometrial ablation using the resectoscope is a safe and highly effective alternative to hysterectomy for those conditions.