ENDOMETRIAL ABLATION VS. HYSTERECTOMY FOR MENORRHAGIA.

Hysterectomy has long been used to treat women with severe menorrhagia, even though as many as half these women have no important pelvic disease. Recently, transcervical endometrial ablation has grown in popularity and holds promise as a less invasive alternative to hysterectomy. This trial from Great Britain compared the two approaches in 51 menorrhagic women.

All the women were free of pelvic disease and were awaiting hysterectomy; 25 were randomized to undergo endometrial ablation and 26 had a hysterectomy as planned. Nearly all the surgical outcomes favored ablation: the median operating time was shorter for ablation than for hysterectomy (30 vs. 50 minutes), as were median hospital stay (1 vs. 7 days) and median recovery time (16 vs. 58…