The Fibroid Menace: Prevention and Treatment, According to the Journals

In 2019, my colleague’s wife died from a Uterine Fibroid/Fibroid operation, so I took a keen interest in it. I learned that it is a common nuisance to the quality of life of many women in Nigeria. I know about 6 women that have had invasive surgeries due to this problem.

Just yesterday, a friend told me, that his wife recently had a successful invasive surgery, after a debilitating back-pain and other complications. Hence, I renewed my interest.

Today, I reviewed a couple of academic papers on this problem and I noticed a pattern of preventive strategies, which I share below.

1. Vitamins

In addition to other essential vitamins that the body needs, Vitamin D appears to be most critical and relevant for the prevention of Fibroids, based on the research I have seen. But the researchers have recommended that women get enough vitamins generally. But Vitamin D stood out. The challenge with Vitamin D in Nigeria is that the food sources are not common in our everyday diet.

Majority of us get Vitamin D through our skin and the sun. But the good thing is that there are supplements that you can use to make-up for it.

Please consult your doctor.

2. There is a linkage between psychological stress and Fibroids, because stress triggers hormonal imbalance.

3. Just like general health advice, it is recommended that women hydrate (drink water) optimally.

4. There is a recommendation that women limit alcohol intake. I guess this is also a general advice, but too much alcohol triggers Fibroids according to one paper I reviewed.

5. Lack of physical activity is also a risk factor for fibroids.

6. Attention should be paid to diet, where there should be limits to sugar and insulin resistance.

In terms of treatment for people that have developed Fibroids, what we see is that treatment can be invasive (large cuts and surgical) or non-invasive approach.

Invasive procedures are standard surgical operations, some of which are an hysterectomy (removal of the uterus), abdominal myomectomy (Myomectomy, sometimes also called fibroidectomy, refers to the surgical removal of uterine leiomyomas, also known as fibroids) and laparoscopy myomectomy (A type of surgery that lets a surgeon look inside your body without making a large cut, also for removal of the Fibroids).

However, a procedure called HIFU was developed in 2002 at Oxford, and it is a non-invasive approach to getting rid of Fibroids. According to Dr Abayomi Ajayi, Managing Director of Nordica Fibroid Care Centre, HIFU, which stands for High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound, is a revolutionary technique that employs focused ultrasound waves to target and destroy fibroids within the uterus.

This process is more expensive, but it is non-invasive and the chances for death is less than 0.01 percent. However, mortality rate for abdominal myomectomy: 0.2-1.0%, while mortality rate for laparoscopic myomectomy is 0.1-0.5%. This data is global data, because there is a serious lack of data on such procedures in Nigeria.

Infact, the data on Fibroid incidence is not coherent, for a disease a good number of women are struggling with.

However, there seems to be a major succour with the introduction of the HIFU treatment. The Nordica Fibroid Centre claims to have performed 385 HIFU procedures successfully. Though, they did not share data on recurrence rates and complications.

Ultimately, the HIFU procedure is relatively safer than other procedures.

This is what I know so far. But please speak with your doctor.

Finally, it appears some doctors are better at managing Fibroid cases than the others. Please feel free to share the best Fibroid treatment doctors or hospitals in your city. However, due diligence is critical.

There is also a need to conduct genetic research on our local population and their predilection to this disease. Based on one journal I consulted, there is a dearth of such research.

This post is not intended to be medical advice. It is a post from a concerned Nigerian who believes human capital well-being is critical to the functioning of any society.