ABSTRACT
A 59-year-old woman, para 2, attended our hospital for an abdominal mass and atypical genital bleeding. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a 30×25cm uterine myoma. A preoperative blood examination showed the following results: hemoglobin, 21g/dl; hematocrit, 71.5%; erythropoietin, 38.5mIU/ml; and estradiol, 29.9pg/ml. Abdominal total hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy were performed, with an estimated blood loss of 1650ml. The weight of the uterus, including the myoma nodule, was 4740g, and the results of histology confirmed the diagnosis of leiomyoma. By postoperative day 28, her hemoglobin, erythropoietin, and estradiol levels had fallen to levels of 15.1g/dl, 6.0mIU/ml, and 5.8pg/ml, respectively, which are normal for a postmenopausal woman. The findings suggest that the leiomyoma secreted erythropoietin and induced erythrocytosis. Estradiol stimulates erythropoietin secretion and enlargement of the leiomyoma. Some studies have shown that erythropoietin is also a growth factor for leiomyoma. More than half of the erythropoietin-producing leiomyomas are detected after menopause. It was discovered that leiomyoma cells can produce aromatase, which transforms androstenedione into estradiol. Although estradiol secretion from the ovaries decreases in the postmenopausal period, the estradiol and erythropoietin autocrine/paracrine system in leiomyoma might promote its own growth after menopause.