Discussing Benefits of Uterine Ablation in La Grange, Kentucky

Baptist Health La Grange: Discussing Benefits of Uterine Ablation

Uterine ablation, also known as endometrial ablation, offers benefits for patients who need to control vaginal bleeding. Learn about uterine ablation from Baptist Health.

Discussing Benefits of Uterine Ablation in La Grange, Kentucky HealthTalks Transcript

Amy Richardson, MD, Obstetrics & Gynecology:
Uterine ablation or endometrial ablation is a means for someone to help control their vaginal bleeding. It’s a good option for people who have completed childbearing, who have a structurally normal uterus, who have heavy vaginal bleeding, and don’t want to use hormones or have a hysterectomy.

This is usually done as an outpatient procedure, which means you come in the morning, and you go home in the afternoon. The operative time itself is very short. It’s about five to 10 minutes. While you’re asleep, what we do is dilate the cervix, look inside the uterus with a camera to make sure there aren’t any polyps or masses, and then use the ablation device to help sear the inside lining of the uterus, so that it doesn’t regenerate as fully every month. The recovery time is usually about one to two days.

Usually, we see people back in two weeks for a post-op visit. I also like to see people back in two to three months just so we have an opportunity to see what their cycles are like. Our goal should be a 50% reduction in vaginal bleeding, but thankfully, we often get more than that.

It is important that you have a structurally normal uterus. It’s important that you have a permanent form of birth control, because uterine ablation doesn’t provide you with birth control, but unfortunately, it does keep you from having a normal pregnancy.

For patients who are good candidates for uterine ablation, we have a 95% patient satisfaction rate. The most common thing that I hear about endometrial ablation is “I wish I would have done it sooner.”