BANGALORE: With over 25 per cent of women aged between 18 and 50 being affected by fibroids, an exclusive clinic to remove fibroids through laparoscopy will be opened here shortly.

A team of surgeons led by Rakesh Sinha from Mumbai's Beams Hospital are working on the project.

The clinic will either be linked to some top hospitals or will be set up separately.

Similar clinics will be set up in Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Hyderabad, Dr. Sinha said.

Reasons

Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, Dr. Sinha said most women developed fibroids in their uterus these days because of late marriage and childbirth, sedentary lifestyle or genetic problems.

Besides the discomfort and pain associated with fibroids, the greatest trauma of having a fibroid was that it could hamper pregnancy and childbirth.

As fibroids did not respond to medical drugs and required only surgical intervention if they grew abnormally, the availability of minimally invasive techniques like laparoscopy made fibroid management easy, he said.

Claiming that Beams Hospital had earned its way into the Guinness Book of World Records for laparoscopically removing the world's largest fibroid weighing 3.4 kg.

Training

Dr. Sinha pointed out that he had not only treated patients with fibroids but had also involved in training other doctors on how to handle the high-precision key-hole surgery.

"Till date, we have performed around 1,000 fibroid removal surgeries through minimally invasive procedures. This process can be completed with a single-day stay in the hospital and less post-operative pain. The patient can get back to work within four or five days, Dr. Sinha said.

Most fibroids did not cause any symptoms but some women with fibroids could have heavy bleeding or painful periods.

They could also complain about bleeding between periods, feeling of fullness in the pelvic area, urinating often, lower back pain and reproductivity problems, Dr. Sinha explained.

"While the causes of fibroids are not known, fibroids are not always cancerous. The chances of fibroids turning into cancerous tumours are less than 0.1 per cent," he said.

There was need to create awareness among women about the need to get fibroids removed and also have specialised disease-oriented centres to deal with specific problems, he said.

Cost

The cost of a laparoscopy to remove fibroids ranged between Rs. 35,000 and Rs. 85,000, which was almost equal to the cost of a conventional surgery, Dr. Sinha added.

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