Women who undergo hysterectomy because of uterine conditions do not necessarily need ovarian removal. Ovarian removal at a hysterectomy does help prevent ovarian cysts, endometriosis, and ovarian cancers in the future. If you keep your ovaries at the time of a hysterectomy you are more likely to need them removed in the future. The granulosa cells of the ovary make something called AMH, Anti Mullerian Hormone. The true function of AMH is not exactly known, but it does have a role in making eggs healthier. Because of this important fertility function, when a woman’s AMH goes to zero her ovaries ..read more

Hysterectomies can be performed with or without ovarian removal. Removing the uterus stops periods. Removing the ovaries cuts off all estrogen and progesterone production and most testosterone production. Supplementing with hormones after hysterectomy can modify risks and benefits of ovarian removal, but the research is not as clear on how much benefit that would confer. Questions are the following: What are the risks of leaving the ovaries or taking the ovaries, and what are the benefits of leaving the ovaries or taking the ovaries. How old you are, your prior gynecologic history, the shape ..read more

Expanding waistline isn’t the same as a protruding abdomen, but they can be related. The causes can be either gynecologic, your gastrointestinal track, the presence of a tumor, extra fluid in your abdomen, or lax abdominal wall. It is not common that it’s your uterus or your ovaries accounting for why you have expansive abdomen. But uterine fibroids as so common, the cause of the protruding abdomen can be diagnosed accurately by discovering you have fibroids. Generally the uterus is about the size of an egg, well contained in the pelvis if not pregnant, and cannot cause the abdominal wall to p ..read more

Many physicians prescribe oral contraceptive pills to control heavy or miserably crampy periods, but a study of the pill Natazia, used for the treatment of heavy menstrual bleeding can help us understand just how effective this type of treatment is. The study enrolled patients who had simple heavy periods, it was not a study of patients with cysts or fibroids, but the basic heavy bleeding during your regular cycle. By definition if we bleed less than 80 cc per time of menstrual period then it’s considered normal. For most women, it’s too heavy if they pass clots and bleed for more than 5 days ..read more

We have two ovaries, one will ovulate more regularly than the other. Removal of the ovaries at the time of hysterectomy for a woman who is still ovulating puts a woman at risk for certain diseases, while reducing the risk of ovarian cancer by about 98%. Losing both ovaries will have various negative neurological consequences including increased risk of Parkinson’s disease, increase risk of declining cognitive function and increase risk of fatal coronary artery disease, decrease her quality of life, and increase her risk of all-cause mortality. No matter which ovary is better, as we age neither ..read more

By age 50 over 80% of women have been diagnosed with a uterine fibroid, although without a recent exam or ultrasound you may not even know you have one. Over half of all women with fibroids, however, will have symptoms that require treatment. Surgery, in fact typically a hysterectomy, has been the most common treatment for a uterine fibroid, however there is a hopeful horizon of medical treatments being developed. Medical therapies for shrinking fibroids have been shown that fibroid tumors are hormone responsive enough that even fairly large tumors can have their size and function controlled a ..read more

In a new study funded by NIH the rate of fibroid growth was studied in young African Americans. Uterine fibroids are common, non-cancerous, uterine muscle tumors. Fibroids are also a common cause of pain, heavy menstrual bleeding, anemia, and pregnancy associated complications. African American women get uterine fibroids almost 10 years earlier than do white women. If you have a small fibroid, you are twice as likely to get others than in women who do not have a fibroid seen on ultrasound. Most fibroids are within the wall of the uterus, and if they are under 3/4 of inch in diameter, they usua ..read more

Uterine fibroids are a common cause of infertility, pelvic pain, pain with intercourse, heavy periods, anemia, and other gynecologic problems. Uterine fibroids are also the cause of endometriosis in some women. While we do know that a fibroid is caused by a gene disruption of one of 6 important genes within the muscle cell of the uterus that leads it to grow into a non-cancerous growth; it really is not known exactly why this gene disruption really occurs. A new theory that says that events within a cell that can cause complete disruption of the chromosomes of a particular cell, can trigger a ..read more