Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Why it's done
By Mayo Clinic staffA D&C may be used to either diagnose or treat a uterine condition.
To diagnose a condition
In a diagnostic D&C, your doctor takes a sample of the tissue that lines your uterus (the endometrium) so tests can be performed on it. This is generally done when:
- You experience abnormal uterine bleeding
- You experience bleeding after menopause
- You have severe menstrual pain
- You are unable to get pregnant
- Your doctor discovers abnormal cells during a routine test for cervical cancer
Your doctor will send the tissue sample to a lab for tests, which may check for:
- Uterine cancer
- Uterine polyps
- Endometrial hyperplasia — a precancerous condition in which the uterine lining has become too thick
To treat a condition
In a therapeutic D&C, your doctor removes the contents of your uterus. Your doctor can do this to:
- Remove a molar pregnancy, in which a tumor forms instead of a normal placenta
- Treat excessive bleeding after birth by clearing out any placenta that remains in the uterus
- Remove cervical or uterine polyps, which are usually benign
- Remove fibroid tumors, which are benign tumors formed on the uterine wall
- Clear out any tissue that remains in the uterus after a miscarriage or abortion — to prevent infection or heavy bleeding, and to make room for a future pregnancy
A D&C is often performed along with another procedure called a hysteroscopy. In a hysteroscopy, a slim instrument with a light and camera on the end is inserted into your uterus. This allows your doctor to see your endometrium on a screen, to take samples of abnormal looking areas and to make sure that no small polyps are missed.
- Guido RS, et al. Dilation and curettage (D and C). http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 3, 2008.
- Sharp HT. Endometrial sampling/dilatation and curettage. In: Adams Hillard PJ, ed. 5-Minute Obstetrics and Gynecology Consult. Philadelphia, Pa.: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2008. http://www.5minobgyn.com/pt/re/hillard/bookcontent.01337302-1st_Edition-4.htm;jsessionid=JH3LLTpmphX94DCXFVfGLXfnhsjS1Dz6WCLWLV2QLhH0kvhrJJHY!-26702612!181195628!8091!-1?index=1&database=books&results=1&count=10&searchid=2&nav=search&cursorname=S.sh.42.43&fieldname=compref&recordnum=1&xpath=/bookdb/01337302/1st_Edition/4/WO(244137)&endxpath=/bookdb/01337302/1st_Edition/4/WO(244182)#gohere. Accessed Nov. 25, 2008.
- D&C for uterine bleeding problems. American College of Surgeons. http://www.facs.org/public_info/operation/brochures/dncbleed.pdf. Accessed Nov. 20, 2008.
- Dilation and curettage. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp062.cfm. Accessed Nov. 20, 2008.
- Early pregnancy loss: Miscarriage and molar pregnancy. The American College of Ostetricians and Gynecologists. http://www.acog.org/publications/patient_education/bp090.cfm. Accessed Nov. 24, 2008.
- Wieslander CK, et al. Therapeutic gynecologic procedures. In: DeCherney AH, et al. Current Diagnosis & Treatment Obstetrics & Gynecology. 10th ed. Columbus, Ohio: The McGraw-Hill Companies; 2007. http://www.accessmedicine.com/content.aspx?aid=2391387. Accessed Nov. 25, 2008.
- Anesthesia and You. American Society of Anesthesiologists. http://www.asahq.org/patientEducation/anesandyou.htm. Accessed Nov. 28, 2008.
- Harms RW (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn. Dec. 5, 2008.
