Women & Infants Hospital physician to study treatment options for heavy menstrual bleeding

Kristen A. Matteson, MD, MPH, of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Women & Infants Hospital and assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, has earned a $1.6 million grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health to study the effectiveness of two treatments options for heavy menstrual bleeding.

"Heavy menstrual bleeding is one of the most common gynecologic problems women encounter," explained Dr. Matteson. "It is such an important problem to study because heavy menstrual bleeding has a negative impact on a woman's quality of life, often leading women to utilize expensive medical resources."

There are two commonly prescribed non-surgical treatments for heavy menstrual bleeding - combined oral contraceptives and the levonorgestrel intrauterine system (the use of an intrauterine device (IUD) with progestogen). However, studies comparing these treatments are extremely limited.

The primary goal of the study is to determine the relative effectiveness of both treatment options in improving the quality of life in women with heavy menstrual bleeding. The study will also compare rates of treatment failure (defined as stopping the treatment and/or request for surgery).

Dr. Matteson continued, "This study is significant because heavy menstrual bleeding is a gynecologic problem that adversely affects quality of life for a substantial number of women. Optimizing the quality of life in women with heavy menstrual bleeding with non-surgical treatments should ultimately reduce the number of surgical interventions performed and decrease health care costs."