A Ten-year Review of Reproductive Outcome Following Abdominal Myomectomy at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Fertility preservation is one of the important factors to be considered post-abdominal myomectomy especially for patients presenting with infertility. Studies have revealed the incidence of achieving pregnancy following myomectomy as 57%. The causal relationship between uterine fibroids and infertility remains unclear.

Aim: To evaluate the reproductive outcome following abdominal myomectomy.

Methods: The study was a 10-year retrospective study of all the cases of uterine fibroid admitted into the gynaecological ward of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital between 1^st January 2003 and 31^st December 2012. Information were coded and analysed using SPSS version 20.

Results: Uterine fibroid accounted for 523(12.2%)% of the 4287 gynaecological admissions during the period under review. The modal age was 33 years ± 2. Nulliparous women contributed the highest incidence of 43.4%.Pregnancy rate following abdominal myomectomy for infertile women in the study population was 24.4%. Twenty women achieved pregnancy within 2 years post-abdominal myomectomy. This represented 32.78% of the 61 infertile patients without any other cause of infertility. Spontaneous abortion occurred in 4 patients (20%), 7 (35%) achieved spontaneous vaginal delivery while 9 (45%) had elective Spontaneous abortion occurred in 4 patients (20%), 7 (35%) achieved spontaneous vaginal delivery while 9 (45%) had elective caesarean delivery.

Conclusion: Generally, one of the reasons why women opt for myomectomy is infertility. However, this study shows the relationship between abdominal myomectomy and pregnancy outcome to be fair.