Uterine Fibroids and Hysterectomy - Complications

Leiomyomas that Spread Outside the Organ

Rarely, a fibroid breaks away from the uterus and develops in other locations. They are typically one of the following:

• Benign Metastasizing Leiomyoma or BML (which usually spreads to the lung).
• Disseminated Peritoneal Leiomyomatosis (which spreads to the abdominal wall).

Neither is cancerous, although there is some evidence that BML, which often occurs after menopause, may represent a slow-growing variant of leiomyosarcoma.

Uterine Cancer

Fibroids are nearly always benign and noncancerous, even if they have abnormal cell shapes. Cancer of the uterus nearly always develops in the lining of the uterus (endometrial cancer). Only in rare cases (a less than 0.1% incidence) does cancer develop from a malignant change in a fibroid (called leiomyosarcoma). Nevertheless, rapidly enlarging fibroids in a premenopausal woman or even slowly enlarging fibroids in a postmenopausal woman require surgical evaluation to rule out cancer.

Click the icon to see an image of uterine cancer.

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