Reduction of menstrual blood loss with endometrial cryosurgery

Summary

Forty-nine patients with dysfunctional uterine bleeding had cryosurgery of the endometrium following a routine curettage. A subjective assessment of menstrual blood loss before and after endometrial cryosurgery was made in 38 patients, a significant reduction (P > 0.01) being noted in both the mean duration of bleeding and the mean number of tampons, pads or both used. In 11 patients objective measurements of menstrual loss revealed a significant improvement in eight (62 per cent) with a reduction of mean pre-treatment loss of 62ml to 37ml (P > 0–05), although only three patients (27 per cent) originally had a ‘defined’ menorrhagia (menstrual loss ≥ 80 ml). Endometrial cryosurgery is effective in controlling excessive or anti-social menstrual bleeding of dysfunctional origin and had negligible morbidity in this study.