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| Home > Healthy People > January 2004 |
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Winter 2004
New procedure offers alternative to hysterectomy
For more than five years, Karen Raab’s life revolved around her menstrual
cycle. In her early 30s, her periods began increasing in frequency and
severity, stretching to 11 days at a time with only three weeks between
cycles.
“I had maybe one off week in between,” says Raab,38, a nurse for St.
John’s Clinic – OB/GYN – Fremont. “My periods were so close together they
were causing me to be anemic in addition to the fatigue and cramping.”
The frequency and severity of Raab’s periods began affecting her quality
of life as well as activities she enjoyed doing.
“I definitely never went swimming,” Raab says. “ I would have to wear dark
clothes. I know some women with the same problem who have to take extra
clothes with them wherever they go. I also didn’t sleep well.”
Raab, who has three sons ages 16, 14, and 12, also had to arrange family
outings and vacations around her cycle.
About one out of five women experience the type of periods Raab had. Now,
women like Raab have another option for treating excessive menstrual
bleeding. Uterine balloon therapy offers an alternative to medication or
hysterectomy.
 St. John’s OB/GYN
Kobby Kobberman, M.D., who performed Raab’s uterine
balloon therapy, was the first St. John’s physician to perform UBT.
Kobberman says UBT is now in wide use and most St. John’s OB/GYNs offer
the procedure.
Kobberman says the therapy works by ablating or burning the endometrium,
which is the lining of the uterus. As a result, women usually experiencing
much lighter periods or none at all.
UBT is an outpatient procedure that can be performed under local or
general anesthesia. During the procedure, a doctor inserts a catheter with
a soft, flexible balloon attached at the end through the vagina and the
cervix into the uterus. The balloon is filled with water and then heated
and circulated in the uterus for about eight minutes, which ablates the
endometrium. The water is removed and the balloon and the catheter are
withdrawn from the uterus. The entire procedure takes less than 30
minutes.
Kobberman says UBT is a good alternative to other methods of treating
excessive menstrual bleeding.
“Balloon therapy itself is simple,” says Kobberman. “It gives people an
alternative to major surgery. Also, with medication such as birth control
pills or hormones you have to worry about blood clotting, mood swings,
depression, and migraine headaches. Medication is an ongoing thing that
you have to do most likely for the rest of your life where this therapy is
a short, one-time treatment with long-term benefits.”
 Kobberman says any woman with severe and frequent periods who does not
intend to get pregnant could be a candidate for this procedure. Women who
are considering pregnancy should not have UBT because the ablation
prevents the endometrial lining, necessary for pregnancy, from building
back up. However, there is still a slight chance that pregnancy could
still occur.
Because Raab works in Kobberman’s office, she saw the success other
patients had with uterine balloon therapy.
“Balloon therapy is safer and less invasive with a much quicker recovery
time,” says Raab. “I had waited till a couple of people had had it done
and the success rate was very good.”
Kobberman says most women can expect to experience some cramping after the
procedure and that the recovery time is one to two days.
“My quality of life is wonderful now, compared to before I had this
procedure,” says Raab.
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