A new study finds that women who had less invasive treatment for painful uterine fibroids did about as well as those who had surgery.
Uterine fibroids (leiomyomata, singular leiomyoma) are the most common neoplasm in females, and may affect about 25% of white and 50% of black women during the reproductive years. Fibroids may be removed simply by means of a hysterectomy, but much more favourably by a myomectomy or by uterine artery embolization, which preserve the uterus.
The study found that uterine artery embolization, a procedure that causes tumors to shrink, is about as effective as surgery, including hysterectomy. But embolization patients are more likely to need a repeat treatment.
Uterine artery embolization or Uterine Fibroid Embolization (UFE) is a procedure where an interventional radiologist uses a catheter to deliver small particles that block the blood supply to the fibroids. This is a minimally-invasive, non-surgical therapy that treats all fibroids. This fibroid treatment usually takes less than one hour. Patients undergoing UFE return to work and daily activities on average within 11 days.
Uterine fibroids are common in women, affecting about 40 percent of those of child-bearing age. Usually, they don’t cause any symptoms. But for some women they become painful.