Clinical Trial: Medical Therapy Versus Radiofrequency Endometrial Ablation in the Initial Treatment of Menorrhagia

Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: A Prospective Randomized Trial of Medical Therapy Versus Radiofrequency Endometrial Ablation in the Initial Treatment of Menorrhagia: Treatment Outcomes and Cost Utility A

Brief Summary:

Excessive menstrual loss (menorrhagia) is a common condition that affects women of reproductive age, and can result in anemia, chronic fatigue and lost wages from work. The traditional first line management involves treatment with oral contraceptives or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. Many women ultimately undergo hysterectomy, a major operative procedure associated with increased costs, loss of feeling of womanhood, debilitating complications and on rare occasions, death.

The newer global endometrial ablation (GEA) devices allow the destruction of the endometrial lining, without the removal of the uterus, in an ambulatory surgery setting. GEA offers a safe and effective alternative to hysterectomy with minimal risks and without unpleasant side-effects.

Presently, global endometrial ablation is offered as an alternative to hysterectomy, after medical intervention has failed. This study will determine the role of global endometrial ablation in the initial management of menorrhagia. Women seeking treatment for menorrhagia will be randomized to either the medical treatment arm or the global endometrial ablation arm.

This study will be the first to compare clinical efficacy and costs between oral contraceptive pills and global endometrial ablation in the initial management of menorrhagia and could potentially change the management of menorrhagia and impact millions of women who suffer from this condition.


Detailed Summary:

Goal of study: To evaluate the safety, effectiveness as well as cost- effectiveness of Global Endometrial Ablation (GEA) as an initial treatment for menorrhagia.

Specific aim #1: To determine if global endometrial ablation (GEA) is more effective than medical therapy in the initial management of menorrhagia.

Specific aim #2: To determine disease-specific resource utilization and costs associated with the treatment alternatives and the cost effectiveness of global endometrial ablation (GEA) compared with medical treatment (oral contraceptive pills) in the initial management of menorrhagia.


Sponsor: Abimbola Famuyide

Current Primary Outcome: Menstrual Blood Loss (MBL) as Measured by Pictorial Blood Loss Assessment Chart (PBLAC). [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]

The PBLAC is a simple, pictorial tool used in women with menorrhagia to assess menstrual blood loss. The total score is calculated by adding up the sum of all scores for the tampons or sanitary napkin used in the menstrual cycle. For tampons: 1 for lightly stained, 5 for moderately soiled and 10 for completely saturated tampons. For sanitary napkins: 1 for lightly stained, 5 for moderately soiled, and 20 for completely saturated pads. Clots were given a score of 1 for small and 5 for large clots. Abnormal PBLAC bleeding score greater than or equal to 100, which correlates with menorrhagia, defined as greater than 80 mL of menstrual blood loss. Normal bleeding is defined as a score of 75 or less. A score of 0 indicates amenorrhea, or absence of menstruation.


Original Primary Outcome: Efficacy of Treatment Outcomes [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]

  1. Menstrual blood loss (MBL) as measured by pictorial blood loss assessment chart (PBLAC).
  2. Patients' satisfaction rates and health related Quality of Life (using SF-12 and menorrhagia specific questionnaire).
  3. Time to failure of treatment (failure is defined as hysterectomy or ablation using a Cox proportional hazard model).
  4. Hemoglobin and Ferritin levels pre and post-treatment
  5. Severity of dysmenorrhea symptoms (using Dysmenorrhea Score) and Premenstrual Syndrome (using PMS-Diary)


Current Secondary Outcome:

  • Quality of Life Score Using the Short Form-12 (SF-12) Health Survey [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
    Quality of life (QoL) was measured by the SF-12 questionnaire. The SF-12 is a multipurpose short form survey with 12 questions, all selected from the SF-36 Health Survey. Physical and Mental Health Composite Scores are computed (combined, scored, and weighted) using the scores of the 12 questions and range from 0 to 100, where a zero score indicates the lowest level of health measured by the scales and 100 indicates the highest level of health. Improvement was defined as a change of ≥ 6 points.
  • Quality of Life as Measured by the Menorrhagia Multi-Attribute Scale (MMAS ) [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
    The MMAS questionnaire captures the subjective consequences of menorrhagia on six domains: practical difficulties; social life; psychological wellbeing; physical health; work routine; and family life. Each of the six domains has four statements that represent four levels of response. Respondents indicate the statement that best matches their feelings for each domain. The statement scores derive from a weighting of the domains and a weighting of the statements in level of severity by women in the original study. Scores range from 0 (worst possible state in all domains) to 100 (best possible state in all domains).
  • Hemoglobin at 12 Months [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
  • Change in Hemoglobin [ Time Frame: baseline, 12 months ]
  • Ferritin at 12 Months [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
  • Change in Ferritin From Baseline [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
  • Direct Medical Costs [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
    Direct Medical Costs consisted of two categories: primarily hospital billed services, and primarily physician billed services. Primary hospital billed services were as defined by Medicare billing practice.
  • Indirect Medical Costs [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
    Indirect cost A refers to cost of sanitary products and lack of activity, indirect cost B refers to cost of sanitary products and reduced work days, and indirect cost C refers to cost of sanitary products, lack of activity, and reduced work days.
  • Bleeding Pattern at 12 Months [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
    The menstruation pattern of the subjects was evaluated. A bleeding episode was defined as any set of one or more bleeding days bounded at each end by two or more bleeding-free days. The bleeding pattern was analyzed using a 90 day reference period and divided into groups, (based on World Health Organization (WHO) classification of clinically important bleeding patterns). The groups are Amenorrhea (no bleeding during the reference period); Infrequent bleeding (fewer than 3 bleeding episodes); Irregular bleeding (between 3 and 5 episodes with less than 3 bleeding-free intervals of length 14 days or more); Prolonged bleeding (1 or more bleeding episodes lasting 14 days or more); Eumenorrhea "normal pattern" (none of the above patterns).
  • Pain at 12 Months as Measured by the Pain Visual Analog Scale (VAS) [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
    The pain VAS is a continuous scale comprised of a horizontal (HVAS) line, 100 mm in length. Possible scores range from 0 (no pain) to 100 (worst possible pain). The patient marks on the line the point that they feel represents their perception of their current state. The VAS score is determined by measuring in millimeters from the left hand end of the line to the point that the patient marks.
  • Subject Satisfaction at 12 Months [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]
    Subject satisfaction was ascertained by asking study participants to choose from one of four categories relating to their general satisfaction with treatment: totally satisfied, generally satisfied, acceptable improvement in symptoms, or unacceptable treatment.


Original Secondary Outcome: Economic Outcomes [ Time Frame: Measured at 12 months following initial treatment ]

  1. Disease-specific direct medical costs
  2. Patient and indirect costs (sanitary product use and lost workdays)
  3. Total costs (direct medical costs, patient costs, as well as indirect costs associated with lost workdays or limited abilities).
  4. Incremental mean cost per quality-adjusted life year gained for ablation compared with medical therapy using a preference based measure of health derived from the SF-12®


Information By: Mayo Clinic

Dates:
Date Received: July 9, 2010
Date Started: August 2009
Date Completion:
Last Updated: January 19, 2017
Last Verified: January 2017