For uterine polyps, your doctor might recommend:
- Watchful waiting. Small polyps without symptoms might resolve on their own. Treatment of small polyps is unnecessary unless you're at risk of uterine cancer.
- Medication. Certain hormonal medications, including progestins and gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, may lessen symptoms of the polyp. But taking such medications is usually a short-term solution at best — symptoms typically recur once you stop taking the medicine.
- Surgical removal. During hysteroscopy, instruments inserted through the hysteroscope — the device your doctor uses to see inside your uterus — make it possible to remove polyps. The removed polyp will likely be sent to a lab for microscopic examination.
If a uterine polyp contains cancerous cells, your doctor will talk with you about the next steps in evaluation and treatment.
Rarely, uterine polyps can recur. If they do, you might need more treatment.
Aug. 29, 2015
- Stewart EA. Endometrial polyps. http://www.uptodate.com/home. Accessed July 10, 2015.
- Cooper NAM, et al. Outpatient versus inpatient uterine polyp treatment for abnormal uterine bleeding: Randomised controlled non-inferiority study. British Medical Journal. 2015;350:h1398.
- Salim S, et al. Diagnosis and management of endometrial polyps: A critical review of the literature. The Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology. 2011;18:569.