ABSTRACT
Uterine leiomyomata, or fibroids, are the com monest structural abnormalities of the human female genital tract and are recognized to be commonly associated with a range of gynecol ogical symptoms. However, in individual women it is frequently unclear whether the demonstrated uterine leiomyomata are actually the cause of a symptom rather than a chance association. The majority of older studies suggest that 20-50% of myomata produce symp toms,1 but overall the data in the literature describing symptomatic associations with uterine leiomyomata are of limited quality in terms of correlating symptoms with type, site, size, or presence of leiomyomata. It is commonly stated that severity of symptoms experienced by the patient will depend on the number, size, and location of the tumours,1,2 but the evidence to support such statements is far from strong. Modern data on symptomatic associations are likely to be heavily biased by the increasingly widespread use of transvaginal ultrasound scanning (Table 7.1).
