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(text on screen): Fertility Authority. Your Most Trusted Source
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Ask the Experts
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Do fibroids cause infertility?
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Dr. Jenna McCarthy, South Florida Institute for Reproductive Medicine: Fibroids can cause infertility.
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It depends on where they're located in the uterus. If they change the shape of the cavity where the baby implants,
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then they can prevent a woman from getting pregnant, or increase her chances of having a miscarriage when she does get pregnant.
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Fibroids that are outside of the cavity, that are in the wall of the uterus or hanging off the back of the uterus,
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don't seem to cause those problems.
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Recurrent pregnancy loss would be one reason to take a look at the cavity and see if there's a fibroid in there.
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Heavy bleeding with your periods. Pain or pressure in the pelvis. Frequent urination.
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All of those can be symptoms of fibroids.
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If the fibroid changes the shape of the cavity, then we do see a decrease in her chances of getting pregnant,
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particularly if she's trying to get pregnant using assisted technologies like IVF.
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And then we also see a substantial increase in her miscarriage rate.
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But women who have fibroids can still get pregnant on their own and they can carry to term.
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And so it's not a hundred percent.
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What we're trying to do when we help; when we offer to help women by removing a fibroid
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is we're trying to improve their chances of getting pregnant and taking home a healthy baby.
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Nothing when it comes to women getting pregnant is a hundred percent, and I never tell women that they can never get pregnant.
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But, you know, there are things that we can do that are going to improve their chances of getting pregnant,
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and that's what myomectomy, or removal of the fibroid, is for.
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