Thermal Balloon Endometrial Ablation (Cavaterm) in the Treatment of Menorrhagia

Background: Menorrhagia is one of the common health problems in women of reproductive age that the first line therapy is the medical therapy, but this is not successful. Currently, global ablation procedures were introduced for treating of menorrhagia. Thermal balloon ablation is as effective as hysteroscopic endometrial resection for the treatment of menorrhagia. This study reviews, the efficacy and safety of thermal Balloon endometrial ablation using the Cavaterm’ system for the treatment of menorrhagia.Methods : At ISI -Scopus-Pub med-Medline- Google Scholar databases, we examined 31 studies conducted in the years 1998-2017 regarding the usage of Thermal balloon endometrial ablation on menorrhagia.Results: The endometrial ablation is a technique for treating menorrhagia in women who failed standard therapy and a less invasive alternative compare to hysterectomy and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration(FDA). This technique has become the most popular in Europe and recently, used in Iran. The Cavaterm consists of a balloon catheter that utilizes a combination of heat(80°C), pressure (200 mm Hg), and the underlying myometrium to a depth of 6-8 mm and takes 8-15 minutes. The main advantages of this method are Preservation of the uterus, rapid and short recovery, rapid return to normal life, 95% satisfaction in treated patients, permanent treatment and no problems before or after heavy surgery, reduce amount of posttreatment menstrual bleeding. The procedure does not require additional training and expertise in operative hysteroscopy and compares favourably with established techniques. After this procedure, the patient can not become pregnant and this treatment is appropriate for women before menopause.Conclusion: Thermal balloon ablation is a safe and highly effective method that oldest of these new generation techniques for women with menorrhagia. Certain types of adverse events and rates of intervention with this procedure to endometrial ablation are low.