Bipolar better than balloon ablation for treating menorrhagia

At 5 years postprocedure, NovaSure, a bipolar radio-frequency impedance-controlled endometrial ablation system, was superior to ThermaChoice, a hot-water balloon ablation technique, at treating menorrhagia, according to the findings of a double-blind, randomized controlled trial conducted in the Netherlands.

Researchers included 126 premenopausal women with a pictorial blood loss assessment count of 150 or more without intracavitary abnormalities.

They found the response rate 5 years after the fact to be slightly higher in the bipolar group than in the balloon group (96% vs. 90%, respectively).

In addition, significantly more of the bipolar group reported amenorrhea (48% vs. 32%, respectively). Eight women in the bipolar group (9.8%) and five in the balloon group (12.9%) had undergone hysterectomy during the elapsed time. Both groups enjoyed significantly improved quality of life.

Kleijn JH, Engles R, Bourdrez P, et al. Five-year follow up of a randomised controlled trial comparing NovaSure and ThermaChoice endometrial ablation. BJOG. 2008;115:193-198.