‘Fibroid Sizes In Women Getting Bigger’ -Gynaecologist Raises Concern, Recommends Ways To Prevent And Treat It
Famous Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi has raised concern that there has been an increase in cases of women with bigger fibroids.
Ajayi who is the Chief Executive Officer of Nordica Fertility Centre Lagos said this might be because more women with fibroid are reluctant to come out for treatment because they are afraid of surgery. He then urged women with fibroids to seek medical intervention early.
According to a 2010 World Health Organisation report, fibroids affects between 20-25 per cent of women, and close to 235 million women which represent 6.6 per cent of the global women population are estimated to have been affected worldwide
Speaking in a live TV interview monitored by PUNCH HealthWise, Dr Ajayi said it is necessary for women with fibroid to know that that they now have other effective options for fibroid treatment aside from invasive surgery. The expert said,
“I have been a gynaecologist for over 30 years, but the kind of fibroid that I have seen in the last three months I have never imagined they exist.
“I have seen big fibroid in my practice, but I am seeing bigger fibroid now. That tells me that there are a lot of women out there who are just afraid of surgery and are not ready to come out.
“But, for such women what we are doing to help is to combine methods of treatment for them. Even though they have a very huge fibroid, but it can be broken down into stages.
“For instance, we can combine minimally invasive surgery with non-invasive surgery to get what we need.
“So the treatment of fibroid is like plotting the best way to deal with the issue rather than before when all we have was invasive surgery.”
While stressing that the treatment of fibroid has moved beyond surgery, Ajayi said,
“There has been an evolution in the care of fibroid. Fibroid treatment moved from invasive to minimally invasive and now we are in non-invasive.
“The minimally invasive is what we call keyhole surgery – that is laparoscopy and hysteroscopy.
“However, with the new era of non-invasive that we are, you could just lay down on the table for about one to two hours and after that, we tell you to stand up and that is all. You are good to go. We just ask you to rest in the clinic for like two hours before you go home.
“What happens is that we are now using a machine that is called ‘HYFO’ – a high-intensity focus ultrasound machine. What it does is that it convert ultrasound to heat energy. It just burns off the fibroid”.
Speaking further Ajayi stated that young black women are more susceptible to the condition. He said,
“Fibroid is the commonest tumour in women of reproductive age group. Black women have a 70 to 80 per cent lifetime risk of having fibroid by the time they are 50 years”.
He, however, caution against removing fibroid without considering other important related issues. The specialist added:
“One thing I would like to tell people is that it is not every fibroid that you need to remove. You have to examine the fibroid and the patient and ask the patient some important questions.
“Do you have symptoms? How old are you? Do you want to be pregnant? Where is the fibroid? Those are some of the questions we need to answer before we can determine what is to be done.
“And the most important thing is how is it affecting the quality of life of the patient. Once it is affecting the quality of life, then you have to act.”
Dr. Ajayi also noted that the commonest symptoms of a fibroid are related to menses.
“It is either pain or heavy flow or you have pressure. Sometimes for some women, they start having symptoms similar to that of men with prostate.
“There was a case of a woman that has a full bladder but she could not pass it because the fibroid has occluded where the urethra and the bladder joined. In such a case, you have to act,”
Ajayi said.