What are the symptoms of uterine fibroids?

We all know that uterine fibroids are a relatively serious gynecological disease for women. In the early stage of clinical manifestations, women will feel severe abdominal pain during menstruation, and in the late stage, the tumor in the uterus will become larger and larger. At this time, women have to take hysterectomy. After the uterus is removed, they can no longer get pregnant. So, what are the symptoms of uterine fibroids?

To date, the cause and pathogenesis of uterine fibroids are still unclear and may be related to the following aspects. There are many risk factors that contribute to the development or growth of uterine fibroids. Factors that increase the risk of uterine fibroids include: maternal use of estrogen during pregnancy, young age at menarche, nulliparity, late childbearing, obesity, African Americans, and tamoxifen. Factors that reduce the risk of uterine fibroids include exercise, multiple births, menopause, and oral contraceptives.

Modern medicine believes that uterine fibroids are hormone-dependent tumors. Uterine fibroids are common during the childbearing years, are rare before puberty, and shrink or disappear after menopause. Studies have shown that estrogen and progesterone synergistically promote the growth of fibroids. The main mechanism may be that estrogen in the follicular phase upregulates estrogen and progesterone receptors on uterine smooth muscle, and then progesterone promotes the mitotic activity of fibroids in the luteal phase, thereby stimulating the growth of fibroids.

Genetic factors

Cytogenetic studies have shown that 25% to 50% of uterine fibroids have cytogenetic abnormalities, including exchange of chromosome 12 and chromosome 17 fragments, rearrangement of chromosome 12, and partial deletion of chromosome 7.

There are increased expression levels of multiple growth factors and their receptors in uterine fibroids, which are considered to be mediators or effectors of the upregulation of ovarian sex hormones during uterine fibroid formation. However, the possibility of abnormal primary regulation of one or more growth factors cannot be ruled out. Uterine fibroids usually contain excessive extracellular media, which mainly contain fibroblasts and the collagen types I and III they produce. Myoma cells interact with fibroblasts and various growth factors, providing a suitable microenvironment for the formation and growth of myomas. Current molecular biology research suggests that uterine fibroids are formed by the proliferation of monoclonal smooth muscle cells, and multiple uterine fibroids are formed by different cloned cells.