Pain may predict hysterectomy risk

SAN FRANCISCO, April 10 (UPI) -- Untreatable gynecological discomfort may be a predictor of the need for hysterectomies in women, a U.S. study confirms.

A four-year study of 762 women found three independent predictors of a patient's chance of having a hysterectomy: a combination of symptoms, such as pelvic pain and bleeding, or fibroids with bleeding or pressure; a lack of symptom resolution despite treatment; and previous use of an gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist, known as GNRH agonist.

Doctors sometimes prescribe GNRH, the so-called "medical menopause," to alleviate severe symptoms, according to University of California at San Francisco researchers.

The findings in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons found one symptom alone, such as pelvic pain or bleeding, results in a 20 percent chance of undergoing a hysterectomy within four years, but a combination of symptoms, as well as the two other predictors, led to a 95 percent chance.