Uterine fibroids are benign (non-cancerous) tumors that receive blood supply from the uterine arteries. They are extremely common in women in their late reproductive years, and though they are not life-threatening, for some women who suffer from them, they can cause pain, discomfort, reproductive problems, and in some cases, severe bleeding, requiring treatment.Uterine fibroids generally occur in women between the ages of thirty-five and fifty, and are estimated to affect one in four women sometime during the course of their reproductive years. It is likely that an even larger proportion of women have undetected fibroids. Though rarely dangerous, large or multiple uterine fibroids can cause symptoms and complications serious enough to demand treatment.
There are three types of uterine fibroids. Intramural fibroids are fibroids that grow on or in the uterine wall. Subserosal fibroids grow outside of the uterine cavity, and submucosal fibroids grow inside the uterus. Especially large fibroids may fit into more than one category. The location of fibroids is an important factor in diagnosis and treatment, since types of complications and symptoms caused by fibroids are frequently a result of their location.
