What causes uterine shrinkage?

The uterus is a very important organ in the female body. It is not only the place where women conceive and give birth to babies, but also plays an important role in the physical health of women. The uterus changes regularly according to the woman's monthly menstrual cycle. This is a normal physiological phenomenon. Uterine atrophy is a relatively common uterine disease. In general, most patients with this disease are women of childbearing age.

It can be divided into two categories: physiological atrophy and pathological atrophy.

The former is the degeneration of certain organs and tissues at a certain stage of body development. Such as the thymus in adolescence; the gonads, breasts, and uterus after menopause; and the atrophy of various organs in the elderly. The latter is atrophy that occurs under pathological conditions. For example, systemic atrophy is often caused by long-term malnutrition, wasting diseases (such as malignant tumors) and long-term starvation.

Menstrual abnormalities:

Patients with congenital absence of uterus or primordial uterus have no menstruation. Patients with immature uterus may have no menstruation, or may have symptoms such as scanty menstruation, delayed menstruation, dysmenorrhea, and irregular menstruation; patients with double uterus or bicornuate uterus often have excessive menstrual flow and prolonged menstrual duration.

Infertility:

Uterine hypoplasia, such as absence of uterus, primordial uterus, and infantile uterus, is often one of the main causes of infertility.

Pathological pregnancy:

An abnormally developed uterus often causes miscarriage, premature birth or abnormal fetal position after pregnancy. Spontaneous uterine rupture may occur during pregnancy. If the fallopian tube of the rudimentary uterine horn is unobstructed, the fertilized egg can implant in the rudimentary horn of the uterus. However, due to the poor development of the uterine muscle layer, it often ruptures during pregnancy, and the symptoms are the same as those of ectopic pregnancy.

A malformed uterus often coexists with myometrial dysplasia. During delivery, abnormal labor force and difficulty in cervical dilation may lead to difficult labor or even uterine rupture. Vaginal delivery may result in retained placenta, postpartum hemorrhage, or postpartum infection. After a patient with double uterus becomes pregnant, the pregnant uterus grows and develops, and if the non-pregnant uterus is located in the rectouterine fossa, it may cause obstructive dystocia during delivery. Patients with double uterus, bicornuate uterus or septate uterus may experience bleeding after delivery due to the discharge of decidua from the non-pregnant side of the uterine cavity.