Uterine bleeding may be caused either by benign organic pathology as well as different dysfunctional conditions. Medical treatment with progestins, danazol or GnRH analogues is usually used as the first choice therapy. Where the symptoms persist, hysterectomy is generally proposed; it has been calculated that from 500,000 to 700,000 such operations are performed annually in the United States. The authors review the state of the art of the endometrial ablation as an alternative to hysterectomy and other medical therapy. Endometrial ablation either by means of the YAG-laser or with the resectoscope, would seem to play a role in well-selected cases of dysfunctional uterine bleeding. In the authors opinion a multicenter study on large numbers of patients is needed in order to confirm these preliminary results.