South Miami Hospital’s Center for Women & Infants is collaborating in a national research study to evaluate the effectiveness of different treatments for women with uterine fibroids. Research partners include Duke University, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Mayo Clinic, University of California, Henry Ford Health System, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Inova Health Systems and Department of Defense Clinical Consortium.

Over the next five years, the medical institutions will pool together data comparing treatment outcomes and safety to form a national uterine fibroids treatment registry. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in partnership with Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute awarded a five-year, $20 million grant to conduct the research. Patients in the study’s registry will be followed over time to track their recovery, any reoccurrences and quality of life after being treated for uterine fibroids.

“Being selected to participate in this research project speaks to our expertise and the quality of advanced care we provide at South Miami Hospital’s Fibroid Center,” said Rafael Perez, M.D., medical director of the Center. “We look using the collaborative data to enhance our treatments and best advise patients about the treatment choices available to them.”

Uterine fibroids are the most common, non-cancerous tumors in women of childbearing age and the second most common reason these women undergo surgery. Uterine fibroids can lead to significant pain, bleeding and fertility problems. Treatment options include watchful waiting, hormone therapy, embolization, partial or total hysterectomy and less invasive procedures that can save a woman’s fertility.

Dr. Perez will serve as the principal investigator at South Miami Hospital. He and Baptist Health’s Center for Research & Grants provided information included in the study’s database, such as patient demographics and medical history, procedure information and lab data. In the study, South Miami Hospital is a sub-site of Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, whose principal investigator is Raymond Anchan, M.D.

For more information about services available at South Miami Hospital’s Fibroid Center or the national research study, call 786-662-8602 or email [email protected].

South Miami Hospital’s Center for Women & Infants offers an array of services for women and infants, including specialized maternal-fetal care for high-risk pregnancies and unborn babies; minimally-invasive robotic surgery and fibroid and cancer treatment; pelvic health and incontinence testing and therapy; infertility and reproductive medicine; a Child Development Center to evaluate and treat infants and children as they grow and develop; cosmetic, breast reconstruction and weight-loss surgery; radiation therapy; and diagnostic imaging, including digital mammography and PET/CT scans to detect breast and other cancer, fetal MRI to detect problems in unborn babies, ultrasound, coronary artery imaging and bone density testing.  Each year, more than 4,600 babies are born at South Miami Hospital’s Center for Women & Infants, which also houses one of the area’s largest Level II and III neonatal intensive care units. The Center is specially accredited by The Joint Commission for pre-term labor and prematurity.

Contact: Tanya Walton, 786-527-9079, [email protected]