Fibroid link to recurrent miscarriage

EXPERTS have found women with fibroids are more likely to have recurrent miscarriages.

Women with fibroids – non-cancerous tumours that distort the inside of the womb – are almost three times more likely to suffer miscarriage in the second trimester (13th to 17th week) of pregnancy than those without, the research suggests. The study, on women who have had three or more miscarriages in a row is the first firm evidence linking fibroids to recurrent miscarriage.

Removing fibroids could lead to a future successful pregnancy – doubling the live birth rate, said the study in the journal Human Reproduction, which followed 20 years of research by a team at the recurrent miscarriage clinic at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

Fibroids in or around the womb are benign tumours composed of muscle and fibrous tissue, and have been estimated to occur in 3-10 per cent of women. The study found the rate of fibroids in women experiencing recurrent miscarriage was 8.2 per cent.

However, not all fibroids may cause problems and need surgery. It was removing submucosal fibroids (those that grow into the middle of the womb, distorting the cavity) that appeared to improve the birth rate.

Some 25 women in the study with these cavity-distorting fibroids had them removed surgically, while 54 women with fibroids that did not distort the cavity had no surgery.

Dr Sotirios Saravelos, research fellow at Sheffield, said: “This is the first time it has been shown removing fibroids may increase the chances of a live birth.”