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A B.C. Women’s Hospital study shows women who have surgery to manage endometriosis and pelvic pain are reporting an improved quality of life.
The study, published in the Journal of Obstetrics and gynecology Canada, examined data from 595 surgeries for women and people of reproductive age. Of these surgeries, 27 per cent were hysterectomies and the others were more conservative procedures.
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“Significant improvements in pain related quality-of-life were observed for both conservative surgery and hysterectomy, regardless of stage of endometriosis and older versus younger age,” the study, titled Outcomes After Surgery at an Interdisciplinary Centre of Expertise for Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain in Canada, said.
“These improvements were seen for both conservative surgery and hysterectomy (although greater improvement with the latter), for early and advanced stage disease, and younger and older patients.”
Dr. Caroline Lee, a gynecologist and surgeon with B.C. Women’s Hospital and lead author, said excision of endometriosis, while keeping the uterus in place, avoiding hysterectomy, resulted in long-term positive benefits for quality-of-life for most patients.
She said the study offered hope to women who want to get pregnant and avoid hysterectomies to alleviate their endometriosis symptoms.
The study states more than a million people in Canada suffer from endometriosis.
Lee said the disease caused cells, similar to those lining the uterus, to grow in other areas of the pelvis. This can cause significant pain during menstruation and on a continuing basis.
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The cause of endometriosis is unknown and there are no known ways to prevent the disease, according to the World Health Organization. There is no cure, but its symptoms can be treated with medicines or, in some cases, surgery.
The surgery removes endometriosis lesions, adhesions and scar tissues.
Katherine Penfold, a B.C. Women’s Hospital patient, had a hysterectomy to address her endometriosis symptoms in 2022, after living with the condition for over twenty years without a diagnosis or appropriate care.
She said surgery to correct the condition had been life-changing.
Since 2019, the B.C. Women’s Hospital’s Centre for Pelvic Pain and Endometriosis has completed over 1,500 surgeries including both excision and hysterectomy procedures.
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