| July 2004 · Vol. 16, No. 7 SURGICAL TECHNIQUES
4 global ablation devices: Efficacy, indications, and technique
Newer endometrial ablation technologies are easy to learn, and high efficacy rates match earlier techniques.
PHILLIP
BRZOZOWSKI,
MD;
JAMES
H.
LIU,
MDDr. Brzozowski is clinical assistant professor and Dr. Liu is the Arthur H. Bill Professor and Chair, department of reproductive biology, Case Western Reserve University, department of obstetrics and gynecology, MacDonald Womens Hospital, University Hospitals of Cleveland,
Ohio.
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KEY POINTS
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These techniques are easy to learn and use, and offer results comparable to rollerball procedures. Selected patients can be treated successfully in the office setting.
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It is is vital that the patient have a reliable and permanent form of contraception, such as tubal ligation or vasectomy.
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Long-term complications, though rare, include endometrial hyperplasia and occult endometrial carcinoma.
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Endometrial tissues have amazing regenerative properties, with a controlled growth rate exceeding that of all known tumors. Within days of onset of menses, under appropriate estrogen stimulation, the endometrial surface “repairs” and “rebuilds”—from the basalis layer on up—rapidly achieving a thickness of 8 to 10 mm.
Thus, attempts to destroy it and achieve amenorrhea have met with limited success.
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