Evaluating success of curettage in the surgical treatment of endometrial polyps

To determine treatment efficacy of curettage on endometrial polyp.

The quasi-experimental pre-and-post study was conducted in 2011-12 at the gynaecology department of Imam Reza Hospital, Mashhad, Iran, and comprised patients who underwent hysteroscopy for endometrial polyp. Location, size, number and base condition of the polyps were recorded before the patient underwent curettage. Hysteroscopy was then performed and the condition of the remaining polyps was compared with initial findings. Also, the remaining polyps were resected. SPSS 13 was used for statistical analysis.

There were 51 patients in the study with a mean age of 33.14 ± 8.19 years (range: 23-59 years)Besides, there were 82 polyps; 38(46.3%) having a narrow base, and 44(53.7%) having a wide base. The mean polyp size was 2.39 ± 2.63cm.After performing curettage, 23 (28.0%) polyps were removed completely, 39(47.6%) had size reduction, and 20(24.4%) had no change in size. Curettage could not significantly remove polyps (p < 0.001). Polyps smaller than 2cm were more likely to have been removed compared to the bigger ones (p = 0.003).Polyps with wide base were more significantly removed than those with narrow base (p < 0.001).Further, those with wide base and also smaller than 2 cm were removed more significantly than others (p < 0.001).The location of polyps had no effect on removal probability by curettage (p = 0.114).

Curettage was not found to be a reliable method for endometrial polyp removal. If hysteroscopy is not accessible, the size of the polyp should be determined by vaginal sonograghy to estimate the probability of its removal by curettage.