How to treat troublesome fibroids.

Harvard Women's Health Watch, December, 2004

The options for treating fibroids are numerous and varied. Here's help in finding what's best for you.

Every year in the United States, thousands of women undergo hysterectomies and other procedures to treat fibroids -- fibrous growths that develop from muscle cells of the uterus. The most important thing to know about fibroids is that they're not cancerous, and they don't put you at risk for cancer. Indeed, unless they cause symptoms, they usually don't need to be treated. About 30% of women of reproductive age are bothered by fibroids, which typically appear between the ages of 35 and 50. African American women are diagnosed with them two to three times more often than Caucasian or Asian women.

Although fibroids aren't life threatening, their symptoms can...