By Aaron Wittenberg, M.D.

    The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists has recommended uterine fibroid embolization as an effective and valuable treatment for fibroids, an important shift in recommendations that gives women a less invasive treatment option than a hysterectomy.

    Before this, gynecologists typically would have recommended hormonal therapy or hysterectomy, but now the data supports UFE. In a study of 10,000 patients who had undergone UFE, 95 percent of patients were satisfied with the procedure and would make the same choice again.

 

Fibroids are located on the outer surface, inner surface and in the tissue of the uterus and range in size from a pinhead to a grapefruit. Fibroids cause symptoms that include heavy bleeding, fatigue from anemia, pain or pressure between the hip bones or in the back of the legs, pain during intercourse, frequent need to urinate, constipation or bloating and an enlarged abdomen.

    Fibroid tumors of the uterus are benign, but they create enough problems so that more than 200,000 American women every year get a hysterectomy, the surgical removal of the uterus.

    A hysterectomy requires several weeks of recovery and presents the complications of major surgery. Women also may want to preserve their fertility as fibroids typically occur in women ages 35 to 50. Another alternate to a hysterectomy is a myomectomy, in which the fibroids are cut out, but often a high rate of regrowth occurs, and symptoms return.

    With UFE, a tiny catheter wire is threaded through the femoral artery to the arteries that supply the uterus with blood, using an X-ray for guidance. The patient has a mild sedative but is conscious. Tiny beads, Embosphere Microspheres, are injected through the catheter. The spheres, so tiny you can barely see them with the naked eye, float through the artery and plug up the tiny vessels that supply blood to the fibroids.

    A fibroid is muscular and without the blood supply, it shrinks and dies. The procedure takes about an hour, and after three days, most patients can return to their normal routine.

If you have been diagnosed with uterine fibroids, learn more about UFE at a free Women’s Health Seminar 6:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Cowden Center on the campus of John C. Lincoln North Mountain Hospital, 9202 N. 2nd St.

    Register by the day before the seminar by e-mailing RSVP@JCL.com or calling 623-434-6265. Friends and spouses are welcome but also should register to ensure adequate seating. Learn more at http://www.JCL.com/ UFE.

Aaron Wittenberg, MD, is an interventional radiologist at John C. Lincoln Hospitals The information in “To Your Health” is provided by the John C. Lincoln Healthcare Network as general information only. For medical advice, consult your physician.