Abstract
Introduction
Uterine leiomyomas are common gynecologic tumor in reproductive-aged women, by age 50, diagnosis shared by urologist, gynecologists and radiologists.
Objective
The goal of this article is to review the current literature, study the impact of leiomyoma on female lower urinary tract, examine the cause female sexual dysfunction and provide a comprehensive review of current diagnostic, imaging studies, and current treatment of leiomyoma.
Methods
Clinical leiomyoma studies published from 1956 through 2015 were identified using the PubMed search engines and the key words leiomyoma, fibroid in the current literature. Impact of leiomyoma on the lower urinary tract including female sexual dysfunction was reviewed with terms of “urinary retention”, “bladder”, “urethra”, “dyspareunia”, “incontinence”, “incomplete bladder emptying”, “female sexual dysfunction”, and “lower urinary tract” to study the urological and sexual effects of leiomyoma. Literature related to leiomyoma was reviewed from 1965 to present.
Results
Women with uterine leiomyomata complained of pelvic pain, menstrual irregularities, infertility, lower urinary tract symptoms and sexual dysfunction.
Conclusion
Leiomyoma is a common tumor of the uterus that often clinically impacts on the lower urinary tract and results in urological and sexual symptoms. Leiomyoma can compress and grow into and become adherent to the bladder and surrounding pelvic organs or metastasize into peritoneal organs. Leiomyoma can enlarge and compress the urinary bladder, urethra, and lower end of the ureters. Leiomyoma can cause embarrassing sexual dysfunction in females. Current literature of non-surgical and surgical therapy of leiomyoma is described.
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Abbreviations
- ECM:
-
Extracellular matrix
- Bcl-2:
-
Beta cell lymphoma-2
- GPER:
-
G-protein estrogen receptors
- AUR:
-
Acute urinary retention
- LUTS:
-
Lower urinary tract symptoms
- BN:
-
Barrington’s nucleus
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Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge literature research assistance from Mrs. Wendy Isser and Ms. Grace Garey.
Author's contributions
Gautam Dagur M.S. designed, organized, and wrote the review article; corrected references; and solved queries related to scientific publications from the journals. Yiji Suh wrote the review article and designed outline. Kelly Warren Ph.D. critiqued and applied logical reasoning to the literature. Navjot Singh performed Medline searches, critiqued, and corrected the literature. John Fitzgerald M.D. retrieved and evaluated scientific information related to the article. Sardar A. Khan M.D. FRCS FACS is the corresponding author, formulated clinical concepts, reviewed the article, and corrected the references.
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Dagur, G., Suh, Y., Warren, K. et al. Urological complications of uterine leiomyoma: a review of literature. Int Urol Nephrol 48, 941–948 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-016-1248-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-016-1248-5