A REVIEW OF 80 ENDOMETRIAL RESECTIONS FOR MENORRHAGIA

Objective - To assess the efficacy of endometrial resection in treating menorrhagia. Design - A clinical audit of 80 consecutive patients. Setting - The department of gynaecology, Ealing Hospital, London. Subjects - Eighty women referred by their general practitioner with the primary complaint of menorrhagia. Interventions - Endometrial resection by hysteroscopic electro-diathermy. Main outcome measures - Subjective assessment of the change in menstrual blood loss by the 75 patients, who were followed up for at least one year. Results - Of 75 women assessed after 1 year 45 (60%) had a successful outcome and nine (12%) had 'some improvement'. There were 21 failures; 14 reported 'no improvement' initially and seven were late failures after a good result at 6 months. Fifteen underwent a second procedure with 83% success at 6 months. Complications included uterine perforation in three women, excessive glycine absorption in two, and two women had problems with haemorrhage. Four women came to hysterectomy. Conclusions - Endometrial resection is an effective treatment for menorrhagia. Improvements in operative technique and equipment gave better results and fewer complications in the second half of the series.