If you’re experiencing heavy or prolonged menstrual periods or abnormal bleeding between menstrual periods as well as pelvic pain or pain during sex, you may be all too familiar with the pains of living with uterine fibroids. What you may be unfamiliar with are the different treatment options for fibroids, particularly uterine fibroid embolization (UFE). According to a recent Harris Poll, many women in the U.S. with uterine fibroids aren't aware that UFE - a minimally invasive technique - may be an alternative to a hysterectomy.
"Misperceptions about uterine fibroids and the treatments available often lead women to undergo invasive and potentially unnecessary surgery for their fibroids, despite more than 20 years of clinical use supporting uterine fibroid embolization," said Dr. James Spies.
Spies, a professor of radiology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is a former president of the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR). That group commissioned the online Harris Poll survey of almost 1,200 women.
According to Dr. Idries Abdur- Rahman, a board-certified OB/GYN practicing in Chicago, 50 percent to 80 percent of women have uterine fibroids and a growing number of those women are African American.
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Fibroids are found through pelvic examinations, transvaginal ultrasounds, MRI’s, hysteroscopy and blood tests. If fibroids are found in your uterus there are several treatment options you can choose from to remove them. Historically, to remove fibroids doctors would perform a hysterectomy, which is a surgical procedure the remove the entire uterus.
According to the Harris Pill, 1 in 5 women thinks that hysterectomy is the only treatment for fibroids.
Over the last decade more and more doctors have performed UFE, a minimally-invasive, non-surgical procedure. Radiologists perform uterine fibroid embolization to treat tumors that grow in the wall of the uterus. These tumors are usually benign, according to the U.S. Office on Women's Health.
This procedure involves a radiologist making a small incision and inserting a catheter towards the site of the fibroids. Small spheres (embolic material) are injected through the catheter, reducing the blood supply to the fibroids which causes them to shrink and die in size and number. According to the Uterine Fibroid Collective, the procedure has a 94 percent success rate, meaning that 94 percent of all patients who had the procedure experienced relief from their symptoms and significant fibroid shrinkage within six months.
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The procedure only takes 1-3 hours and with a quick recovery time, patients are able to go back to work within a few days and return to a normal life.
For the first 24 hours after the procedure is performed, patients may experience period-like cramps which can be treated with medicine such as ibuprofen or aspirin. Patients may also experience vaginal bleeding for a couple of months after the procedure is done which is due to the fibroids that are breaking down.
Though the reported rate of risk is rare, there are risks involved with UFE that include infection, possibility of needing a hysterectomy performed and long-term pain. It is very important to know that each case of fibroids is different and talking with your doctor is the first step. Your doctor will advise you on whether or not the UFE procedure right for you.
Among women diagnosed with uterine fibroids who have heard about embolization, 46 percent didn't first learn about it from their obstetrician-gynecologist.
"Physicians need to ensure that women are presented every option for treatment so that patients can make the decision that is right for them," said Dr. Suresh Vedantham, president of the Society of Interventional Radiology and a professor of radiology and surgery at Washington University in St. Louis.
