Will uterine fibroids grow larger after pregnancy? What are the types of uterine fibroids?

Generally speaking, when women hear that they have uterine fibroids, they will be very panicked, afraid that it will affect the reproductive function of the uterus and whether the uterine fibroids will grow larger during pregnancy. Well, the following small series will give you a simple explanation. Uterine fibroids refer to fibroids in the female uterus, also known as uterine leiomyoma, which is the most common benign tumor in the female reproductive organs. Generally speaking, it is common in young and middle-aged women.

Uterine fibroids can be clinically divided into the following three types according to the location of their growth: intramural fibroids in the myometrium, the most common; fibroids that grow into the uterine serosa and protrude from the surface of the uterus, called subserosal fibroids; fibroids that grow into the mucosal layer and protrude into the uterine cavity, called submucosal fibroids. It is currently believed that the transformation process from uterine muscle cells to fibroids may involve a complex interaction between somatic mutations in the normal myometrium, sex hormones, and local growth factors. Estrogen, progesterone, and many peptide growth factors are considered to be regulatory factors for fibroid growth and play an important role in fibroids.

In addition, animal experiments and clinical practice have shown that the formation and growth of uterine fibroids are closely related to women's estrogen levels, and women's estrogen levels will increase during pregnancy, so uterine fibroids will also grow rapidly. However, after pregnancy, as estrogen levels decrease, fibroids will naturally shrink. Therefore, as long as women with uterine fibroids are checked before pregnancy and follow the doctor's guidance during pregnancy, most uterine fibroids generally do not affect fertility.