Only 3% fibroid causes infertility, says gynaecologist

Have you lost hope of getting pregnant at the news of having fibroid? You shouldn't be!

Dr Prosper Igboeli, a gynaecologist, on Monday said most women with fibroid did not require treatment for it to get pregnant. Igboeli, the Managing Director of M and M Hospital, Fertility and IVF Centre, said in Abuja that only three per cent of fibroids caused infertility. He said the treatment options were having correct diagnosis and the restoration of fertility by preserving the integrity of the endometrium.


 Igboeli said endometrium is the lining of the inside of the uterus during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle. He said the endometrium becomes thickened in preparation to accept an embryo should conception occur.
Igboeli said if pregnancy occurs, the endometrium undergoes a process called decidualisation ``People believe any woman with fibroid will not get pregnant; the truth is, most women with fibroid don’t require treatment for fibroid to get pregnant. `` Correct diagnosis is the key to proper management of infertile women with fibroid.

``The first consideration should be restoring fertility by preserving the integrity of the endometrium,” he said.

He described infertility as when a woman or man is said to be sterile, which implies that some absolute factors preclude conception.
 According to the doctor, different studies have given different reasons for the development of fibroid while the older one becomes, the more likely one may have it.
Igboeli said other factors associated with fibroid include never having been pregnant (nulliparity), obesity, cigarette smoking, prolonged menstrual cycles and African-American ethnicity (almost three-times as likely as white women).

"Risk factors for development of fibroid are race, age, family history, nulliparity,” he said. He said that fibroid could only cause infertility when large ones were located in the lumen or the wall of the uterus.

Igboeli added that it could distort the shape of the uterus or fill the lumen thus interfering with implantation. He said that multiple small fibroids, especially those in the wall of the uterus, could also distort the uterus leading to infertility.