ENDOMETRIAL ABLATION

Endometrial ablation is surgical destruction of the endometrium. Endometrium is the lining tissues of the uterus. The ablation is one type of treatment for abnormal uterine  bleeding. The beeding is usually  due to a benign condition.  If the reason for bleeding is cancer of the uterus , the ablation is not used as a treatment, because the cancer cells may have grown into the deeper tissues of the uterus not just endometrium. Endometrial ablation is only performed on a non pregnant woman who does not plan to become pregnant in future and when medical and hormonal therapies  can not control the bleeding.

Before the ablation there must b performed endometrial biopsy to exclude the persistence of cancer. Also the must be done imaging studies to exclude the persistence of uterine polyps or benign tumors, that can be simply removed without the need for ablation of the entire endometrium. Intrauterine contraceptive devices must be removed and the possibility of pregnancy must be excluded.

There are different procedures that are used for destroying the lining tissue of the uterus (endometrium), such as: laser beam, electricity, freezing, heating or microwave energy.