Treating symptomatic uterine fibroids with myomectomy: current practice and views of UK consultants

BACKGROUND: The demand for uterus-sparing treatments is increasing as more women postpone childbirth to their 30–40s, when fibroids are more symptomatic. With an increasing choice of treatment options and changing care-provider profiles, now is an opportune time to survey current practices and opinions. Using a 25-stem questionnaire, a web-based survey was used to capture the practices and opinions of UK consultant gynecologists on the treatment of symptomatic fibroids, including the types of procedure most frequently used, methods used to reduce blood loss, and awareness and acceptability of treatment options, and to assess the impact of gender and experience of the treating gynecologist. RESULTS: The response rate was 22%. Laparascopic myomectomy is used least frequently, with 80% of the respondents using GnRHa preoperatively to minimize blood loss and correct anemia, while vasopressin is most frequently used to reduce intraoperative blood loss. Female consultants operate significantly less frequently than males. Those with more than 10 years consultant experience are more likely to perform an open myomectomy compared to those with less than 10 years experience. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to a similar survey performed 10 years ago, surgical methods remain to be the most common treatments, but use of less invasive treatments such as UAE has increased. Consultants’ attitudes appear to be responding to the patient demand for less radical treatments. However, it is yet to be seen if the changing consultant demographics will keep up with this demand. The low response rate warrants cautious interpretation of the results, but they provide an interesting snapshot of current views and practices. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s10397-017-1014-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.