Types of Fibroid Tumors

Types of

Fibroid Tumors

Submucous Fibroids
These fibroids occur just below the lining of the uterus and can cause menstrual problems, including pain as they grow and move around the pelvic area.

Intramural Fibroids
A round fibroid most often within the uterine wall which can cause enlargement of the uterus as they grow.

Subserous Fibroids
This fibroid grows on the outer wall of the uterus and usually causes no symptoms until it grows large enough to interfere with other organs.

Pedunculated Fibroids
These fibroids develop when a subserous fibroid grows a peduncle (stalk), as they grow larger they may become twisted and cause severe pain.

Interligamentous Fibroid
A fibroid which grows sideways between the ligaments which support the uterus in the abdominal region. This type of fibroid is especially difficult to remove without the possibility of interfering with the blood supply or other organs.

Parasitic Fibroid
The rarest form of fibroid tumor occurs when a fibroid attaches itself to another organ.

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What are uterine fibroids?

Fibroid tumors are usually benign (non-cancerous) tumors found, most often, in the uterus of women in their 30's and 40's, although they occasionally develop on other organs which contain smooth muscle cells.

Fibroid tumors are solid tumors which are made of fibrous tissue, hence the name 'fibroid' tumor. Most often fibroids occur as multiple tumor masses which are slow-growing and often cause no symptoms.

The size of fibroids varies immensely among women and some are so small that a microscope is required to see them. However some women experience a single large fibroid tumor the size of a grapefruit or a fibroid which is so large it encompasses the entire abdominal area. Such large tumors can weigh as much as 50 pounds; the largest, reported, fibroid ever recorded weighed in at 140 pounds.

No one is sure why fibroid tumors develop, but some facts are quite clear-- they do not develop before the body begins producing estrogen during the onset of menstruation-- estrogen, such as in birth control pills and taken for menopausal symptoms, does cause fibroid tumors to grow and fibroid tumors will grow very quickly during pregnancy when the body is producing extra estrogen-- they often shrink and disappear after menopause when the body stops producing estrogen--a woman will almost never develop fibroid tumors after menopause.

The estrogen connection appears to be quite clear, although there are still some who doubt the role estrogen plays in the development of fibroid tumors because women with fibroids often have blood levels which reveal normal amounts of estrogen.

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