Questions patients askUterine fibroids — frequently asked questions
A scan found a fibroid. Do I need surgery?
Most likely not. The great majority of fibroids found on a scan are causing no symptoms and need nothing but a note in your record and a repeat scan at a sensible interval. Fibroids are treated because of what they are doing to you — bleeding, pressure, pain, or an effect on fertility — not because of what they measure. A fibroid that is quietly sitting there is not an operation waiting to happen.
Does the size of the fibroid decide the treatment?
Position matters more than size, and this surprises most patients. A small submucosal fibroid bulging into the cavity can cause torrential bleeding and interfere with implantation, while a much larger subserosal one growing outwards may cause nothing at all. FIGO grades fibroids from type 0 to type 8 precisely because where a fibroid sits predicts what it does. Any report that gives you only a measurement is telling you half the story.
Will a fibroid stop me getting pregnant?
It depends entirely on the type. Fibroids distorting the uterine cavity — FIGO types 0, 1 and 2 — are the ones with a clear association with difficulty conceiving and with miscarriage. Fibroids sitting in the outer wall generally have little effect. This is why the answer to 'will my fibroid affect fertility' can only be given after a scan that establishes the type, and why a generic answer from the internet is worth very little.
Can tablets shrink a fibroid?
Medical treatment can reduce the bleeding a fibroid causes, and some treatments can reduce its size temporarily. What tablets cannot do is remove a fibroid permanently. If a submucosal fibroid is the reason you are flooding every month, hormonal treatment may control the symptom while the fibroid is still there — which is a reasonable plan in some situations and the wrong plan in others. The honest version is that medical treatment manages fibroids; it does not cure them.
Do fibroids turn into cancer?
This is the fear behind most fibroid consultations and the answer is reassuring: malignant change in a fibroid is rare. What does warrant attention is a fibroid that grows rapidly, a fibroid that appears or enlarges after the menopause, or new bleeding after the menopause. Those are not reasons to panic, but they are reasons to be assessed rather than watched.
What happens to fibroids after menopause?
Fibroids are hormone-responsive, so they typically stop growing and often shrink once oestrogen levels fall after the menopause. Symptoms usually settle with them. A fibroid that grows after the menopause is behaving abnormally and needs to be looked at rather than assumed to be shrinking on schedule.
I have a fibroid and heavy periods. Is the fibroid definitely the cause?
Not automatically, and assuming so is a common error. Fibroids are extremely common, so a woman can easily have a fibroid and a completely separate reason for heavy bleeding — a thyroid problem, a bleeding disorder, a polyp, or ovulatory dysfunction. FIGO's PALM-COEIN framework exists partly to stop clinicians stopping at the first thing the scan shows. If a small subserosal fibroid is blamed and treated, and the bleeding continues, the real cause was never found.
Should I have a hysterectomy to be done with it?
That is a legitimate choice for some women and completely wrong for others, and it should never be the first thing offered. It ends fertility permanently, so the conversation has to start with your age and whether you want children, then move to how much the symptoms are actually costing you and what less definitive options would achieve. Dr. Kunda's position is that a woman should be told what every option does before being steered toward any of them.
Do I need repeat scans?
If a fibroid is being watched rather than treated, yes — at an interval matched to its size, position and your symptoms, not on a fixed annual schedule for everyone. The point of the repeat scan is to establish whether it is stable or changing. A single scan tells you what is there; two scans tell you what it is doing.
If I need an operation, who actually performs it?
Dr. Kunda does. She is a gynaecological surgeon as well as the doctor who scans you, so the person who identified the fibroid and graded it is the person who operates on it. In practice that removes the most common failure point in fibroid care — a decision made from someone else's scan report by a surgeon who never saw the images. Major surgery is carried out at the hospitals in Dhantoli where she is attached; Mayflower Clinic is the consulting, scanning and procedure address.
Will I be seen by a female doctor?
Yes. Dr. Kunda Shahane is a woman gynaecologist. She takes the history, performs the pelvic ultrasound herself, grades the fibroid, and explains what it means in the same appointment. Nothing is delegated to a male clinician.
What will it cost?
A first fibroid consultation usually includes the consultation and a pelvic ultrasound on the same visit. Message +91 8087471244 with a one-line description of your symptoms, or with your existing scan report, and we will send current pricing before you travel.
How soon can I be seen?
The clinic runs Monday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and is closed on Sunday. Call +91 712 6692706 or message +91 8087471244. If you are bleeding heavily enough to feel faint or breathless, go to a hospital the same day rather than waiting for an appointment.
