Womb fibroids may be a cause of miscarriage

Experts believe they have uncovered a key reason why some women have recurrent miscarriages.

Women with fibroids that distort the cavity of their womb are almost three times more likely to suffer miscarriage in the second trimester of pregnancy than those without fibroids, a research suggests.

The study, on women who have suffered three or more miscarriages in a row, is the first firm evidence that fibroids are associated with recurrent miscarriage.

Removing fibroids that distort the womb cavity could lead to a future successful pregnancy – doubling the live birth rate, the findings showed.

The study, in the journal Human Reproduction, follows 20 years of research by a team at the recurrent miscarriage clinic at the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

Fibroids in or around the womb are benign tumours composed of muscle and fibrous tissue, and have been estimated to occur in three to ten per cent of women.

The new study found the rate of fibroids in women experiencing recurrent miscarriage was 8.2 per cent. However, not all fibroids may cause problems and need surgery. It was removing submucosal fibroids (those that grow into the middle of the womb, distorting the cavity) that appeared to improve the birth rate.

Some 25 women in the study with these cavity-distorting fibroids had them removed surgically, while 54 women with fibroids that did not distort the cavity had no surgery.