THE SCOURGE OF FIBROIDS

THE SCOURGE OF FIBROIDS

Hi all,
This is Victor, I am a Consultant Clinical Specialist Radiographer[Ultrasounds], with over 15 years post qualification experience, I have worked as a sonographer in Nigeria for over 14 years, presently I live and work in The Republic of Ireland [though temporarily]as a sonographer
I have decided to start writing into my blogs to communicate with my entire community. Where we can share experiences and relate better on different issues, not just medical , but general issues.
I know that many of my colleagues are on my page, so I will not be shooting offline always because you are there to put me straight and correct me always. Remember no man is an island. I could also give the wrong information by error, so we can work together to give the right information to the world.


My topic today is for the general online community, but specially for the Nigerian online community, because this is an issue that affect us seriously.
Today I will be writing about fibroids. Uterine fibroids are benign tumours, which grow from the muscle layers of the womb. They are the most common benign tumours in female, often asymptomatic, they cause symptoms in about 25% of white and 50% of black women.
Fibroids are named according to where they are found. There are four types
[1] INTRAMURAL FIBROIDS are found in the walls of the womb and are the most common type of fibroids.
[2] SUBSEROSAL FIBROIDS are found growing outside the walls of the womb and can become very large. They can also grow on stalks [called pendunculate fibroids]
[3] SUBMUCOSAL FIBROIDS are found in the muscle beneath the inner lining of the womb walls
[4] CERVICAL FIBROIDS are found in the walls of the cervix [neck of the wombs].

In rare cases, fibroids can turn cancerous



SYMPTOMS

Symptoms relate to the location of the fibroids and its size. Important symptoms include abnormal gynaecologic haemorrhage[bleeding], heavy or/and painful periods, abdominal discomfort or bloating, back ache, urinary frequency or retention, and in some cases infertility. There may also be pain during intercourse depending on the location of the fibroids.
During pregnancy they maybe the cause of miscarriage, bleeding, premature labour, or interference with the position of the fetus.



DIAGNOSIS

Diagnosis is usually accomplished by bimanual examination, better yet by gynaecologic ultrasonography[SCAN], magnetic resonance imaging[MRI] and laparascopy. Fibroids can also be diagnosed during HSG examination.



TREATMENTS

[1] Surgery [a] hysteroscopic myomectomy [b] laparoscopic myomectomy [c] laparotomic myomectomy.
[2] Uterine artery Embolization [UAE]
[3] Magnetic Resonance Guided Focused Ultrasound [HIFU]



Fibroids are very serious issues in Nigeria where I practiced for over 14years. Fibroids became a real issue in Nigeria after the death of popular MEE Mofe-Damijo in 1996 from post surgical complications from removal of fibroids. I was a very young sonographer at that time and I attended to thousands of women and up till this day fibroids is still a big issue.
I have being opportuned to have travelled to 4 continents in the world [Africa, Asia, Middle East, and Europe] and worked in Africa and Europe as a specialist sonographer, fibroids still remain an issue though much more in Africa. It is also a big business, good pay for the surgeon and also good money to traditional healers.
I have no problems with traditional healers and alternative medical practitioners, but what I believe is that some of them should give true information to the patients.
I have attended to so many women in Nigeria who have visited some of these alternative medical practitioners and they claimed to be able to give them some concoction that will make these women to excrete these fibroids, to me this is not fair , for years I have followed these women and I must confess non received any so called cure.
I am not against anyone taking any form of cure she wants whether orthodox or traditional, but safety should come first, NAFDAC must confirm that these concoction are safe for human consumption.
I also noticed that some of the concoction given to these women with fibroids/infertility problems are the same ones given to women with general infertility problems. From the numerous scans I did on this issue in Nigeria I noticed that their ovaries produce multiple mature follicles than usual, which shows that these drugs contain some natural hormonal substances that stimulate the ovaries and help the infertile women to get pregnant.
If such drugs are given to women with fibroids, these could lead to increase in the size of the fibroids. While these women are looking to reduce the size of the fibroids, the administered concoction increases the size [Please be careful]. These concoction have also being known to lead to kidney failure.

I want to advise clearly that any woman with fibroids should not get stressed, if there is no threatening symptoms, be relaxed, don’t go running up and down and get duped.
If you are an infertility patient with known fibroids, don’t always assume that the fibroids are the problem, do tests to checkout your fallopian tubes, ovarian functions, sperm tests etc [Ask your gynaecologist for further information]. If you are having excessive bleeding or the fibroids are very large make sure you see your doctor, surgery is best in this instance, because the fibroids can twist, or compress the ureters and give renal problems.

I want to specially talk to Consultant radiologists in Nigeria, Uterine Artery Embolization[UAE] is relatively cheap and very effective treatment for fibroids. It only needs an X-ray fluoroscopy unit, which is available in some centres in Nigeria.
I have known women in Nigeria who paid as much as N200000 for traditional cure of fibroids and they are getting no results.
Uterine Artery Embolization is known to have worked , I have attended to some women in Europe that have done it and have seen the fibroid masses shrink, saving the women the complication of surgery.
I recommend that Nigerian radiologists should come to Europe and learn these skills, the Nigerian women need it, they will be saved from the complication of unnecessary surgeries, and drinking of strange concoctions from some strange healers .

Regards

Dr. Victor Efughi
Consultant Clinical Specialist Sonographer

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